356 - The First of Three Letters from John (Part 2)
- Gwen Diaz
- Dec 22, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
December 22 - Nº 356 1 John 2:18 – 5:21
John was the overseer and itinerant pastor for several churches in a province called Asia. Unfortunately, some of the people in these churches were being influenced by false teachers who said that Jesus was not really the Son of God. They taught that he was merely a gifted man who had been granted special powers at certain times.
So John wrote a series of letters to these churches. He started by explaining that the only way to have fellowship with God was to believe that Jesus was God's Son. Believing this was crucial to having a relationship with God!
John warned his readers (whom her referred to as his “dear children” in the faith) to ignore the lies of the false teachers and pay attention to the Holy Spirit. He referred to the Holy Spirit as “the anointing” that Jesus had given them. “The anointing” lived inside them and was there to guide them. If they listened to him, he would help them understand what was true.
John also reminded his readers of the amazing amount of love that God had showered on them by allowing them to become His children! It was far more than they could imagine. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of God’s amazing love for them, John insisted that believers’ lives should look different from the lives of others.
First, believers should be recognized by their obedience to God. John pointed out that disobedience to God’s laws was sin—and the reason Jesus had died on the cross was to take away their sins! “Anyone who is a true child of God will understand and honor this tremendous act of love by being obedient,” John insisted.
John also pointed out that believers should be recognized by the way they love each other. “God commanded us not only to believe that Jesus is His Son, but to love one another!” he wrote. “Since Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, shouldn't we be willing to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters? Shouldn't we be willing to take care of them when they have needs?”
John explained that love must involve more than kind words. It has to include sincere actions. He pointed out that there is no room for jealousy or anger in the life of a believer. John also warned his readers to test everything they were being taught to determine if it was really true. And he gave them a special litmus test they could use to determine if it was. If the teaching acknowledged that Jesus was God’s son who had come to this earth in the form of a human, it was true. They could be sure that it came from the Holy Spirit. If the teaching did not acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God, it came from false teachers.
Then John gave them the greatest promise of all: If they truly believed that Jesus was God’s son and that he died on the cross for their sins, they had already been given eternal life! They would spend eternity with their heavenly Father who adored them. They could be confident of this!
And with this confidence, they could come to God and ask for anything!
As long as their desire was to please Him, He would always hear and answer them! John concluded his letter by begging his readers not to let anything come between them and their heavenly Father.
God is in love with you—as a matter of fact, He is crazy about you!
He loved you in the past when He sent Jesus to die for you.
He loves you right now and longs to spend time with you.
And His love extends into the future. He already has a place prepared for you to live with Him FOREVER!
Wow!!
Are you enjoying God’s forever love right now?
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