Let There Be Life | 1 John 5:11-12
Are you shocked that we are on the last day of 2023? Week to week with our Middle School students I ask them who has had a “Thumbs Up” or a “Thumbs Down” kind of year. Look back at this past year… would you define 2023 as “thumbs up” or “thumbs down?” I ask this question because I know that everyone here had moments that felt great, and others that felt terrible, and sometimes the circumstances we find ourselves in, can affect the way that we view the life that we have. People all over America are struggling with anxiety and depression because of the circumstances they find themselves in, and sadly, this is not a new problem for our world.
This past month we have been looking at the book of 1 John, and within these passages, we have seen what an aging John was trying to communicate with the church. This was a group of people who still did not have confidence in the life that Jesus had promised them. They were being persuaded by false teachers to believe lies, and so John had to step in and bring clarity to the situation. And the clarity that he wrote in his letter, can still be applicable in our culture today. So what we can learn from God through the letter of 1 John is this: God has proven that we have eternal life through His Son alone, which means in 2024, we can live this life confidently, and share God’s testimony with urgency.