“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.” 1 John 5:1 NIV
As the apostle John moves toward the conclusion of this letter, he brings together into one paragraph the three tests of authentic Christianity that he has repeated throughout the book. He does this to summarize and to show that these three tests are part of an interwoven fabric. They all depend on the new birth as their foundation. We may view them as three vital signs of the new birth, which is faith in Jesus Christ, love for others, and obedience to God’s commandments. The new birth must be the starting point of any relationship with God. We can go to church all our life, we can be religious and moral, and we can tithe our money to the church, but none of that will get us into heaven. Jesus told Nicodemus who was a very religious and moral man (John 3:3), “Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’” He underscored again (John 3:7), “You must be born again.” We can dress up a corpse in the finest of clothes, but it is still a corpse. What it needs is life. Spiritually, before we are born again, we are all dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). All the finest religious clothes in the world will not help that corpse. What we need is new life that only God can impart. We cannot attain to this new life by our own efforts. It is not a matter of trying harder, of cleaning up your life with New Year’s resolutions, of going to church more often, or anything else that you can do. Rather, the initiative and the power lie with God. Have you been born again?
PRAYER THOUGHT
Lord, may my life in You be expressed in my daily living.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of new Life, in and through the Holy Spirit. Let this new Life be expressed in the way I live and treat others. AMEN
I.B.R.A. Readings
Exodus 23:1-12
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