I was in a conversation with the leader of a Christian community who said some of those under his care had become “fuzzy around the edges” concerning certain issues of faith. That fuzziness had diminished the clarity of the truth allowing undisciplined emotions to define what was true.
When John wrote his first epistle, I John, he was confronting a false image of Jesus that created a heresy in the Church saying Jesus did not come in the flesh. John countered that heresy by saying, “He was revealed to us” (I John 1:2). John, like the other apostles, wrote their versions of the Gospel story from a firsthand, eyewitness experience with Jesus. What we know of Jesus comes from the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Their writings revealed what we know of the Lord.
In John’s Gospel, he begins by defining Jesus as the Word of God who has always existed before the pages of Scripture representing Him were penned. Jesus’ presence and the truths about Him, challenged the acceptance of the falsehoods spoken about Him.
Jesus brought definition and clarity, and a resulting conflict with those who represented the spirit of the world, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world” (I John 2:16). The defining line drawn between the ways of the world and the ways of the Spirit were established by the truth about Jesus.
John wrote, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” 3:4). It was lawless because it violated the foundational laws of God and His word. John also said, “Anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is” (3:6). The “keeps on sinning” part of that verse happens because it is no longer God’s word we are following, but a lawless heart living in disobedience to God. Yielding to the unrestrained impulses of the spirit of the world will create a spiritual free-for-all.
When our flesh is calling the shots, John warns, “We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous” (3:12).
When we yield to the spirit of Cain, we will allow the false god of our understanding to take the reins of our lives. If it becomes our life, we will try to destroy any expression of righteousness that contradicts the false god we are serving. Cain did not arrive at that place overnight. It came after a season of personal redefining of what was right that allowed him to do as he pleased.
All of us are developing spiritually. To say we have parked our faith in a place of personal disobedience to God’s word will create a fuzzy interpretation of the Lord and His truth. We will place that fuzzy expression of a false god on the mantle of our life and begin to worship it. At the end of that journey of defiance, we will become like Cain doing whatever we can to censor and silence any expression of truth that opposes an unfettered lifestyle not anchored in the truth of God’s word.
Amen. Compromise or be like flint…firm in our faith in Jesus Christ and what He wants from us. Obedience as in the obedience Jesus demonstrated towards the Father. He said “Follow Me.” We either do or we don’t.