Testing Our Spirit

1 John 4:1-6

A spirit doesn’t just influence you; a spirit moves you, takes hold of you, infuses you, carries you. There is an increasing polarity of spiritual influence that accompanies the time approaching Christ’s return. It is critical what influences we even give attention to, because they can be instruments of the one who against Christ, and therefore also those who would be his. John gives us to understand that there are two tests of whether something is of the Spirit of God: There is acknowledgement of the person of Jesus as the Christ (anointed one) of God; and the one from whom the influence comes has a life that matches the teaching. There is, therefore, credibility, as there was in the leadership of which John was part (verse 6).

Verse 4 of this passage points to a kind of ‘spirit’ in the more general sense, which the world would then detect in those who are of God’s Spirit. It is a spirit of victory, a spirit of there being nothing that can stand in our way, a confidence that has not to do with ourselves but the one who is in us. Enough of hand wringing or glancing over the shoulder of any individual, family, or body of believers who purport to be of Christ! The victory is won! We have only to believe, live, and proclaim it. It is a mission to the world around us that is non-negotiable. It is not an add-on to a community of faith that’s OK to pursue as long as the “interests of the people” are looked after. What could those interests possibly be but to take up the mission of Christ himself who has clearly passed it on to us (John’s Gospel, 20:21 and Matthew 28:16-20)? That is our ‘interest’, our life, our source of true unity, our nourishment, and its own reward.

Prayer:
Make us bold for you, Lord. Amen.