May 21, 2015
1 John 5:18-20
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
CONSIDER THIS
In the May 20 entry of Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, he writes,
Many of us prefer to stay at the threshold of the Christian life instead of going on to construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within. We fail because we are ignorant of the way we are made, we put things down to the devil instead of our own undisciplined natures. Think what we can be when we are roused!
It’s taken me almost fifty days to say what Chambers says in a short paragraph. The New Testament teaches us what it means to “construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within.” This captures the very essence of discipleship—as noted earlier—the retrofitting of a human being with Eternal Life.
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
“We fail because we are ignorant of the way we are made.”
IMHO (in my humble opinion), the people of God are arrested in development; as Chambers puts it—stuck at the “threshold of the Christian Life”—between the first half of the Gospel and the second half. If you missed this short five minute video a few weeks back, it’s worth your time to watch it now.
It comes down to one of two possibilities. 1. Either the New Testament is wrong, or 2. We aren’t getting it.
Which possibility are you landing on?
J.D. Walt writes daily for Seedbed’s Daily Text. He serves as Seedbed’s Sower in Chief. Follow him @jdwalt on Twitter or email him at jd.walt@seedbed.com. Get the Daily Text delivered to your inbox fresh every morning. Subscribe HERE.