Perhaps you have heard the motto “ to know Him and make Him known”. That is a good summation of what should be a high priority in the life of a Christian. John begins this chapter reminding us that Christ is “the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation means He is the One who covers our sins and restores us to a right standing with God. The whole purpose of having our sins atoned for is so that we can have a relationship with God. Accepting Christ as our Savior is the basis for that relationship but God wants us to know Him in an intimate way. How do we know Him?
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (V3)
He sent Jesus to this Earth to teach us, to be an example to us of His love and to guide us in how to live out the Christian life in the here and now. We are told numerous times in God’s Word to “ abide in “ Christ. What does that mean?
“whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (V6)
Christ modeled to us what it means to express love, genuine concern, and devoted involvement in the life of others. Our relationship with Christ should impact our relationship with others. This is a dark world because of the impact of evil but Christ brings into this world the light of genuine love and truth. We are to shine that light into the lives of others by treating them as Christ would.
We can’t “abide in Christ” if we do not love each other. “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” (V9-10)
I just attended the funeral of a loved one. After the service I was at his home where all of his “stuff” still filled the rooms and the yard. It reminded me that we truly do not take anything from this world with us. All that really matters when we draw our last breath is our standing with God, our relationship with Christ. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (V15-17)
There are many things that compete for our attention in this life. Our priority as Christians, however, should be on Christ and abiding in Him. “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” (V 28-29)
We came into this world enveloped in sin and selfishness, separated from God. We desperately needed a Savior which God provided to us through Jesus Christ. He freely offers us all that we need in Christ and He tells us that it is vital for us to abide in Christ. God wants to transform us through His Spirit at work in our lives to make us more and more Christlike. By making our relationship with Him a priority, we can be used to impact the world around us.
Bill Keynes, C.S. Lewis Institute
“Abiding in Christ is the essence of the promise of the New Covenant—the God who commands us from the outside in the Old Covenant now comes to live within us in the New. Christianity is not a self- help religion, but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that brings new life by the Spirit. In our union with Christ we are forgiven and in that union we are regenerated. We now participate in Christ—he is in us by the Spirit, and, in Martin Luther’s words, Christ himself is “the basis, the cause, the source of all our own actual righteousness.” As we entrust ourselves to Christ and depend upon him, we are like branches that draw on the vitality of the vine to produce good fruit.””