2 John 1:9 NLT
Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
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This is awesome! I've really been struggling with understanding the reality of the concept "once saved always saved.' Andy and I have been discussing it a lot and I feel that this verse has the answer. If someone says that they are Christian and yet they fall away...they really.weren't Christians to begin with. It says here that anyone who falls away frokChrist never had a relationship with the father and son...but those who temain in the faith have a relationship with the father and son! This is really important to understand. Are we abiding him and seeking a relationship with him?
15-16 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 in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
ReplyDeleteJohn is saying that a person cannot love both God and the world for the two are opposed to one another. It could not be more clear in this passage that if a person is living as the world lives, yet claiming to be a follower of Christ, they are not in fact a true follower of Jesus. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:24,
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
It is impossible to serve two masters. Each person must make a choice: Who will be god of their life? Who will sit on the throne of their hearts?
So many people want the benefits of following Christ but are not willing to pay any of the costs. That is not acceptable! A person cannot separate the benefits from the costs. Following Christ requires sacrificing everything you are and everything you desire in order to pursue the one, true God. Nothing less than everything is required. So if you are truly a follower of Christ, you will not love the world, but will hate it.
Remember to, that love of the world is not exclusively a love of sin. While that is primarily the case. It is also a love of anything that is temporary and fading that detracts from a complete, wholehearted love for God.
We need to each look at our lives and root out through the power of the Holy Spirit any remaining love for the world and destroy it for it has no business in our lives.
Our lives are to reflect the life of our Savior and not the world!
v.8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
ReplyDeleteThis verse reminds me of the importance of protecting Biblical doctrine and understanding the great value that it has in upholding the truths of scripture. This is especially relevant on the start of The Gospel Coalition's National Conference. We are to discern one's statements against scripture and not let false teachers discredit thousands of years of work.