gift

reading today in 1John again.  Like I was saying, there is not always a quiet place and without quiet I cannot concentrate and if I can’t concentrate then I can really skim over the same section over and over again and not know what I read.  However something did grab my attention and take me down a path of thought…

1John5:3-5For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Well, lets look at that a minute. If we love God, we keep his commandments. Ok, we’ve talked about that. Our response to the work and love of God, that He has first loved us and we love because HE first loved us naturally takes us into obedience. We are not perfect and it’s not so easy when we are sinners and we mess up, but in general, do you love God’s commandments and recognize that they are the best way to live for your own health? or do you despise them? Do you long to live rightly that God might be glorified or do you just try to hide that you sin. Then go to the next verse and see that HIS commandments are not burdensome. I believe that if you love God and you have been changed, his commands are not a burden but a delight. What is a burden is breaking them and feeling the guilt. Think about it,in Galations 5:22, we see the fruit of the spirit. and what does it say at the end of that verse? That against love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, that against these things there is no law? WHY? because they are what God has called us to. They are what God desires for us and of us. I think you would find few people that would say that any of these things are bad. They are just good living. So they are without burden. But the other things, of which there are laws about, whether of God or of the state, those things are burdensome, there is guilt and there is shame and pain and all sorts of things.

The next part is a litmus test.  You say you love God.  You say you keep his commands.  have you overcome the world.  That would be the world system and it’s ways and paths away from and against God.  If you are truly born of God, then you will overcome the world.  How do you know you have overcome the world?  hmmmmmmm.  it doesn’t mean that you have taken over.  It doesn’t mean that you have went along with it.  It means that you have followed God at His word and chose His commands (to love Him and your neighbor as yourself) flying in the face of the world’s ways which say it is all about you.  So what shows you that you have overcome the world?  your Faith.  Is your faith intact?  have you fallen away?  have you denounced your God?  if not, if you still have faith, then you have not been overcome by the world, you have persevered.

We have one more verse here to consider.  Lots of people have faith.  faith in the Lottery, faith in their jobs.  faith in their spouse.  faith in their addiction.  Whatever it is that we believe in, we can be people of faith.  And John wraps this up here, not leaving anything to chance making sure that people realize that the faith that they must have that fuels their love for God, that enables them overcome the world, that enables them to love others, this faith is in Jesus, believing that He is the son of God.  Only HE can cover your sin and remove the enmity between us and God.

Now… let us consider for a moment this faith that saves us, that enables us, that overcomes the world.  Is it of ourselves?  Is there something in us that produced this faith?  Look for a moment at Ephesians 2:8-10…

Ephesians2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

It is not of us. It is a gift from God that we have faith. He put it there. We don’t know how. through His word, through others speaking His word to us, through reading, through the work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the word, we gained faith, not of our own but of God. Why? for good works. Not for our glory, but HIS. Has He put good works before us? Do we accept them and walk in them? or do we shy away? what is the work of God?

John 6:28-29 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

From Jesus mouth we see that the work we are to do is to believe in Him. All things, all glorifying work stems out of faith in Christ Jesus. He gives us faith, faith allows us to believe, believing brings love and obedience for God and His commands which allows us to overcome the world and it allows us to also touch others in all sorts of ways because of faith. taking care of a neighbor. adopting a child. loving your spouse. teaching your child about God. living righteously out of love for God. overcoming the world’s temptations to pull you away from God. All of this is possible because of faith. If we are boasting of our faith or of our works, then we have not faith, for true faith boasts in God and in His son. true faith is a gift.