So You Will Know

09.01.12

1 John 5.13 13 I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. NCV

This morning I noticed several people had changed their profile photo on FaceBook and I briefly mused about changing mine. I thought I might try to find a pic of Sir Winston Churchill and use it as my profile foto. I then thought about Churchill’s dabbling into the occult (he was trying to defeat Nazi Germany and was looking for every advantage he could find) and decided maybe my current profile photo was just fine.

In ancient times, (history has it) Roman noblemen would try to know the future by gutting a sheep and allowing the entrails to spill out on the ground and study the path the guts took, as they spilled, then use that as some kind of indicator as to what the future held for them. (No, I wasn’t considering using a picture of a gutted sheep as my profile photo…)

I also read 1 John 5 where the apostle John wrote: I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. It seems one of the characteristics of humans is a need to know. We want to know what happens to us. We want to know if our future is bright and shiny or dark and gloomy. And John wrote his letter so we who believe, would know that if nothing else, we have eternal life.

Faith in Christ in John’s time was under attack like it is in ours. People warped and distorted the message of Christ and His salvation then like they do now. It was important for John to write his letter to the believers to correct these distortions and help the believers to keep believing the truth despite the level of error around them. (Remember: it was at this same time in history that sheep were being gutted so the gentrified could try to figure out what was in store for them in the future.)

In our day folks are concerned about the future. In America we may not gut sheep but we’ll bet the farm in the stock market. In our day we try to use every advantage we can to figure out what is going to happen to us. Horoscopes, astrology, psychics – it’s all about wanting to know: what is going to happen to me. If ever there was a need for the truth and reassurance of First John, it’s now; right now in our times and in our day.

The future waits for no one – it comes at us every moment. But just because it does, doesn’t mean we need to fear it – I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, eternal life; I just want to know what’s going to happen to me now!) Knowing I have eternal life, helps me to know that this present life and all that is in it prepares me for eternal life. Knowing nothing will stop me (and that I don’t have to spill any guts in the process) helps me to know I’m on the right path and God is completely in control of whatever happens in my life: I’m safe in His.

For now, the FaceBook profile photo will probably remain the same but my knowledge of God and His purposes for me will intensify until that day when I depart this place, with all it holds; and step into eternity – with all it holds – and live in His presence forever.