The Word This Week
1 John 5:1...
Parents know the love they have for their children. This is a supernatural love which exceeds any love they have ever known. Until you become a mom or a dad, you can only imagine this quality and depth of love, but once the child God has given you is in your arms, it is apparent it is far beyond any extent of emotional love, or fondness ever known. It is a genuine, deep-seated, heartfelt love that knows no conditions, and it is unlike any quality of love we have ever felt.
Parental love is the closest thing we know of how it is our Father in heaven loves each one of us.
As a parent, we desire our children to know the things they may be certain of in life. If we could, we would remove all doubt about those things we can be certain of, especially when it pertains to the most important issues of life.
Doesn’t it therefore make PERFECT sense our Father in heaven would desire us to be certain about our eternal condition?
This is often a point of contention in the Church, and it makes no sense that it would be. God desires we have absolute certainty about the fact we have eternal life in heaven. He says so in no uncertain terms. What earthly father would have his children go through uncertainty over an issue of such grave importance?
And yet, even in Church circles it is often regarded as arrogance to proclaim you know you are going to heaven. How can this be?
The answer is there is such ignorance even in the Church about what the word of God plainly says that this ignorance regards certainty as arrogance. In the Church which ignores or refuses to teach what it means to be born again in Christ Jesus, (perhaps even embarrassed by the term “born again,”) a scale of justice is placed before the people instead. And so, the people – ignorant of what the Word of God teaches about being born again because they have never been taught – strive to reach a heaven they desire but cannot be certain of because they cannot be sure they have done enough good things in life to be worthy of it. They can only hope they have.
To tell the person who is striving for heaven you are certain you are going to heaven can be received as if YOU are the ignorant one. John says otherwise. God wants you to know as a born again believer in Christ Jesus you are going to heaven – and He desires you be certain of it.
Pastor Bill
Parents know the love they have for their children. This is a supernatural love which exceeds any love they have ever known. Until you become a mom or a dad, you can only imagine this quality and depth of love, but once the child God has given you is in your arms, it is apparent it is far beyond any extent of emotional love, or fondness ever known. It is a genuine, deep-seated, heartfelt love that knows no conditions, and it is unlike any quality of love we have ever felt.
Parental love is the closest thing we know of how it is our Father in heaven loves each one of us.
As a parent, we desire our children to know the things they may be certain of in life. If we could, we would remove all doubt about those things we can be certain of, especially when it pertains to the most important issues of life.
Doesn’t it therefore make PERFECT sense our Father in heaven would desire us to be certain about our eternal condition?
This is often a point of contention in the Church, and it makes no sense that it would be. God desires we have absolute certainty about the fact we have eternal life in heaven. He says so in no uncertain terms. What earthly father would have his children go through uncertainty over an issue of such grave importance?
And yet, even in Church circles it is often regarded as arrogance to proclaim you know you are going to heaven. How can this be?
The answer is there is such ignorance even in the Church about what the word of God plainly says that this ignorance regards certainty as arrogance. In the Church which ignores or refuses to teach what it means to be born again in Christ Jesus, (perhaps even embarrassed by the term “born again,”) a scale of justice is placed before the people instead. And so, the people – ignorant of what the Word of God teaches about being born again because they have never been taught – strive to reach a heaven they desire but cannot be certain of because they cannot be sure they have done enough good things in life to be worthy of it. They can only hope they have.
To tell the person who is striving for heaven you are certain you are going to heaven can be received as if YOU are the ignorant one. John says otherwise. God wants you to know as a born again believer in Christ Jesus you are going to heaven – and He desires you be certain of it.
Pastor Bill