Christianity is personal and relational. If we miss this, we will never understand what the Christian life is all about. We will never understand why God has us on this earth in the first place.
Ultimate Reality Is Personal
The reason why Christianity is personal and relational is that the Christian God is personal and relational. We believe that ultimate reality is a Person, and He has been revealed most fully to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us read how the Apostle John opens his Letter, 1 John:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-3).
God has existed as an eternal community within Himself. The Christian Gospel declares that one of those Persons of the eternal Godhead has stepped out of eternity and come to earth. In 1 John 4:9-10, we read these words: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Jesus, the Christ, has built a bridge of relationship from God to us. Through the cross, we can receive forgiveness of our sins and a restored personal relationship with God, when we turn to Christ and place our faith in him.
Three Tests Of Genuine Faith
In 1 John, three evidences are given to test whether a person has genuinely been converted, and genuinely shares in personal fellowship with the Father and the Son, in the Holy Spirit. The first evidence is love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. In 1 John 3:18-19, we read these words: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence”. We know we have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life, because we love our brothers and sisters. A person who harbors hate in his/her heart does not possess eternal life.
The second evidence of a genuine Christian faith is the belief test. The true Christian believes that Jesus is the Christ, and that he is the incarnated Son of God (1 John 2:20-25; 4:14-16; 5:10-12). It is the spirit of antichrist at work in people that denies Jesus is the Christ and the incarnated Son of God (1 John 2:22).
The third evidence of a genuine Christian faith is the obedience test or the testimony of a righteous life. In 1 John 2:3-4, we read these words: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him’, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” This is how we know we are in him.
The genuine Christian has been born of God at conversion. We have been made partakers of the divine nature through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. If we have truly been reborn through our heavenly Father, we should begin manifesting his character: “If you know that (God) is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him” (1 John 2:29).
Why are we on this earth anyway? It is to come to personally know God and have fellowship with the Father and Son, in the Holy Spirit. It is to love God with our entire being, and to love others like ourselves. Jesus says these are the 2 greatest commandments and sums up the whole Bible (Mt. 22:37-40). In 1 John, the Apostle John wants us to make sure we are genuinely in Christ, and that we are living out our salvation with integrity.
QOTD: Are you showing forth the genuineness of your Christian faith by: loving others like yourself; believing that Jesus is the Christ, and the incarnated Son of Go; and living in obedience to Christ’s commands?
2 Comments
Amen …. to above commentary…..wonderful!
“What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my life.”
One can hardly get half way through the above words without beginning to sing the poetic words written by Rufus H. McDaniel in 1914 and then put to music.
Ahhhhh…..how we miss the old songs and hymns!
If you’ve ever wondered whether you are truly saved, the following 1John scriptures containing
“of God” or “from God” illustrate the characteristics/truths of a “born again” person starting with:
2:29b ……”you know that everyone who does right has been born of Him”.
3:9b……….”no one who is born of God, will continue to sin; because God’s seed remains in him”
4:2b……….”Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God”
4:6a………..”We are from God and whoever knows God listens to us”
7b…………..”Everyone who loves has been born of God”
5a……………”Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”
5:4a………….”for everyone born of God has overcome the world”
18…………….”We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one does not touch him”
Blessings, always.
Good insights, John!
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