Word Live: Reality
‘Lord, make the Bible real to me today. Show me myself as I really am and show me yourself as you really are. Amen.’
Bible passage
1 John 5:13–21
Concluding affirmations
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 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. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 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.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
‘Keep away from fakes!’ could hardly be a more suitable ending to this letter. All along, John has been wanting authenticity. He is looking for children of the true God believing in the real Christ, following genuine Christian teaching and showing practical love to their brothers and sisters.
John also wants them to have a sound confidence in Christ, and to know that the Son of God has given them eternal life (v 13) and does protect them in the world from the evil one (v 18). He wants their confidence to be in God who hears and answers prayer (vs 14,15). Although some of the language may seem obscure to us, verse 16 begins with a wonderful promise to keep on praying for those who have apparently rejected the faith. God does hear. The faithful praying for a son or daughter or friend sometimes sees its reward decades later!
John can’t resist a final warning against us kidding ourselves: all wrongdoing is sin, however Christian we may think we are (vs 17,18). But the good news is gloriously true. If we know the true Christ, then we know the true God, and this is eternal life (v 20), as Jesus said himself (John 17:3).
Author
Roger Combes
Respond
Is there anyone in particular you know who has turned away from God in some way? Might God be wanting you to make it your business to pray for him or her?
Deeper Bible study
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.’1
John ends this theologically rich letter with an assortment of closing comments. Some are rather enigmatic, such as his discussion of the sin that leads to death. There is also a final encouragement about being in Jesus Christ and receiving eternal life and a rather abrupt ending exhorting his readers to keep themselves from idols. Before all of these, however, is a beautiful promise about receiving what we pray for from God.
Verses 14 and 15 are perhaps among the most abused verses in the Bible. People have used them to claim that they can confidently receive anything which they ask for from God. This actually misses John’s point – he clearly claims ‘if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us … we know that we have what we asked of him’ (italics added). The emphasis here is on God’s will, not our will. It’s important that we learn not to demand what we want but to ask God what he wants and then pray accordingly. By aligning our prayers with God’s desires, we can be utterly confident that he will hear us and that he will give us a certain answer.2
The painful part of this process is actually relinquishing our own rights and desires and being genuinely open to his will being different to our own. It’s OK honestly to express our heart’s desires to God, but we must remember that he sees a much bigger picture than we ever could; he alone knows what will truly be best. As we mature in faith, our hearts become increasingly transformed and our desires naturally align with his, so our prayers become more powerful and effective.
If you are wrestling with God, open your hands in prayer, in a physical act of letting go, and align yourself with God: ‘Not my will but yours be done’.3
1 Ps 37:4 2 Cf 1 John 3:21,22 3Cf Luke 22:39
Author
Daniel McGinnis
