AS IS THIS ONE!

I will be sharing from two passages of Scripture tomorrow, 1 John 1:1-4 and 2:3-6, as we will learn about the Word and the Walk. Nothing new will be said; really, just reminders for us. However...

How much we take for granted or not really think much about. We follow Jesus; we believe he suffered, rose from the realm of the dead, and ascended to the Father, because the Bible tells us so. But suppose you were hearing that from someone apart from Scripture? How skeptical would you be? How much evidence would it take to convince you--okay, to convince ME--that these things were true?

John says that he was an eye- and ear-witness to Jesus, but even more than that. To correct the falsehood circulating in and around his circle of churches--teaching that claimed that Jesus was merely a phantom, that he didn't have a physical body at all--he says that we TOUCHED him. John had Scripture (the Old Testament) by which he described Jesus as pre-existing and God incarnate; his hearers probably didn't--and neither he nor they had a New Testament. It hadn't been fully written, compiled, and circulated for some time. Talk about faith!

But not BLIND faith! John was there! He had to correct the falsehoods concerning Jesus; he as the last surviving apostle wrote down in his gospel, his 3 letters, and Revelation the truth. The purpose of all this? So fellowship=communion with God and others can occur.

However, disbelief and misbelief break fellowship. How so? The false teachers claimed that the physical body wasn't important--only the soul was saved. Therefore, live the way you like. So John reminds his readers that light cannot coexist with darkness, and that if we claim to follow Jesus, we must live like he did (2:3-6).

Anyway, it's evening; it's been a long day; I turned 65 (!) yesterday; I'm tired! This ramble was meant to remind me of two important points--the word of the apostle makes fellowship possible; the walk of the believer which is bassed on that word, makes witness possible.