Psalms 90:17 NIV
[17] May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
Isn’t it wonderful that the favor of the Lord rests on us as the Holy Spirit living in us. This is what changes our hearts and establishes the work of our hands. Because as we are reading over and over again in 1 John our actions are what reveals our hearts to others.
1 John 4:1-2 NIV
[1] Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. [2] This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
1 John 4:16 NIV
[16] And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:18 NIV
[18] There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:20 NIV
[20] Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
In this book John is addressing the fact that some of the believers had turned from their faith in Jesus as the Messiah because the idea of a God that came in a human body was too difficult for them to accept in the shadow of the Greek idea that the flesh is evil and only spirit is good. They were denying Christ and living immoral lives and were very unloving toward each other, but they claimed to know God and belong to Him. So John is really hitting those points hard over and over again. It is like using the broken record technique to reinforce a truth that someone his continuously ignoring. Or to break a stronghold on your life because of lies that you had come to believe over time. For example if you grew up in a home that your father always told you that you were a failure and that you would never amount to anything you would live that out because that is the only thing that you would know. And to overcome that lie you would need to hear a truth spoken like “you are a child of God with a purpose and you can do anything that He calls you to”, or “God made you and loves you and His opinion of you is what matters and is never wrong”. You would need to hear it spoken over you and by you again and again to even start to believe it. I think that is what John is doing. He is sharing these truths over and over again. Saying them in different ways, because truth is the only way to defeat lies. And the arrows of lies that they have had shot at them is enormous so the number or truth shields that are needed to defend against them needs to be enormous.
We live in a world that is teaching our children from the day they are born that the word of God is a lie and that the right way to live is the way of the world and because this is the most unchurched generation that has ever existed that’s all they know. Thankfully we have a God that is greater than the world and even in the depth of depravity that our youth are living in He can shine His light into their lives and reveal His truth and love to them. One of the ways He does that is through His church. When we are able to wear our faith on the outside so that the world can see it and love others then we can be a light of God’s truth and love in a dark world and He will use that to shift their understanding of what is right and what is true. But often times we hold back that outward shining of our faith because of those lies that we have come to believe over the years and didn’t even realize we were believing them. “Faith should be kept private.” Lie. “Just being a good person and living like Jesus is enough of a witness I don’t need to talk about Jesus to people.” Lie. “A person has to be called to evangelism to be able to do it right.” Lie. “If you share your faith to people who don’t believe it will offend them and that is unloving.” Lie. I can go on but I won’t. Anything that you tell yourself that keeps you from talking about Jesus and speaking His truth into this lost world is a lie. And when we don’t surrender to God and the truth of His word then we are surrendering to the devil and his lies.
What lies have you come to believe about the world, yourself, God, faith, and the church? Ask God to reveal them to you and to give you His truth on the matter and say it out loud to yourself repeatedly every day until you know it to be true in your heart and you begin to live it with joy and peace. Until you know the truth so well that you recognize the lies in your life as well as the lies in the lives of those around you. And put on the armor of God including shield of faith which is the word of God and surrender your life fully to Jesus so He can work through you to reach the lost and teach new believers to do the same.