1 John Chapter 5
By Pastor Neil
Recognizing God’s Children
A question that frequently arises when a person becomes a new Christian is “How do I know that I am born again, a Christian?” A related question that comes up from time to time is “How do we know who is really a Christian and who is not?” The first is a search for assurance that a person who has just repented of sins and believed in Christ for forgiveness and cleansing really is a Christian now. The second question is a curiosity sometimes, and sometimes the result of seeing behavior or attitudes that don’t seem congruent with what we think should be true of a Christian.
In 1 John, chapter 5, we have some help from the Apostle John with both of these questions. Our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is the basis of our salvation. John notes that anyone who loves God the Father will also love His Son. And how do we know that we love all God’s children? We take a look to see if we are being obedient to God, loving Him and carrying out His commands. John puts it as simply as he can: “This is love for God: to obey His commands.”
As the Apostle John penned these words, he knew that our next question would have to do with the huge task of carrying out all of God’s commands would be nearly impossible. In his time, John knew that most of his listeners would immediately think of all of the commands from the Old Testament when they were under the Law. All attempts to do that had ended in failure, the very reason why Christ became the true answer to how we could be righteous. John lets us know that he’s not talking about those commands since the ones he is talking about are “not burdensome”. And the foundation for our faith is not our own efforts to fulfill the ancient Law but, rather, to have faith in Christ, God’s Son.
The Law was the “old way” to overcome the world and its effects. The “new way” is to gain victory over the world through faith in Christ. And the only people who truly “overcome the world” are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And he adds that this is all made known through the Holy Spirit who makes this known deep within our minds and hearts.
And so “recognizing God’s children” is done very simply by asking oneself and others if they truly believe in Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God, who died for our sins and through repentance and faith have been made whole. Faith in Christ is the basis of everything, including our unfettered love for God and God’s people.
You can see them everywhere, people doing God’s work on earth by loving Him and all His children and by “being Christ” to a lost world that desperately needs to find Christ. Today, see if you see ways that Christ is living through you. And take a look around to see if you can spot others who evidence the love of God working through them to touch a needy world. I think you will see a lot of them!
