overcoming the world

1 John 4:19-5:4

Somber anniversary today, and wasn’t it a Tuesday? Yesterday’s notes on being free of fear of judgment come against the hard reality of fear in the world, from one another, fueled by a personal power of evil bent on wreaking havoc in God’s creation. We walk the balance of not wanting our children to live in fear, and yet we need to warn, prepare, equip them to deal with the real dangers of the world. Moreover, Scripture provides warrant, I believe, for legitimate authority to limit the effects of evil in the world. So we have police and military to do what’s necessary to try to keep utter chaos at bay. The tricky question (that gets more political than I care to here) is “What’s necessary (without making things even worse)?”

Whatever measures are necessary on the worldly plane, Christians know the basic and ultimate answer. “Everyone born of God overcomes the world,” John says. How can this be? Because there can only be love for one another in this world because of the prior gift of God’s love. That gift can only be realized as it is believed, confessed, and shared. Love of God is realized in love for one another. True love for one another, however, is conditional upon love for God, because it comes from him in the first place. We love one another truly because we love God and those others God loves. So then our love for one another becomes part of God’s love for others.

When that is realized, it is a great victory over the ways of the world. And we can be so certain of the victory that Christ won at the cross, and that will be made plain when he comes, that we can speak of victory over the world already having been won. I know, that doesn’t help the immediate circumstances of millions of people, but without the certainty of God’s power over evil there is no hope at all. But we can state it more positively than that, because Scripture does, as here. There is immediate hope because we are so certain of God’s reality and purpose that living the faith right now has an effect that nothing else can. Our hope and love must be grounded in something other than ourselves, this world, and its circumstances – and it is, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Prayer:
Thy will done on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen.