Word of Life

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

WORD OF LIFE

1 John 1:1-4

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

NIV

To begin with, we need to ensure this is John the beloved apostle of Jesus. Some scholars of old have debated this and think it might be John the elder, which would put the date far past the life of John the author of the gospel. But by the style and his own testimony, we believe and agree with many scholars this is John the beloved. He starts off given his testimony that he has heard and seen and touched Jesus. He calls Jesus the Word of life. This is by far a very profound name he gives to Jesus. There is no other word that has life than the Word, Jesus. We cannot find life in any other way whatsoever. Sure, we make every effort to live a life that pleases the Lord, but however we live, how many good deeds we do, however holy we think we act, or think, or whatever things we do not do, makes absolutely no difference when it comes to having life. It is not that we should go about living any way we want, freely sinning in any way that suits our fancy. We should make every effort to live a life worthy of the Lord. Still, God has declared the work of the Lord, or what pleases Him is to believe in the one he sent, Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, when we trust Jesus with our whole heart then we please the Lord. Again, that isn’t to say God is not pleased by our “good life”, but our “good life” is not that good, for we have yet to produce a life completely free of all sin. So then, if we still have some sin, however small amount or small type sin that may still be within us, it is still sin and God is not pleased with sin. So, what pleases God cannot be based on our life, but rather on believing in Jesus, the Word of life. John goes on to tell us that life appeared, Jesus came to earth, the Word of life became here and lived among us and the Word of life is eternal life that was with the Father and has appeared on earth in the form of a man. How else can we have eternal life other than in Jesus? What purpose does our life have if we are not going to have eternal life? How futile life would be without eternal life, without Jesus. Just to be born, to live for self, to live to satisfy every craving, every desire, to work for our own passions, goals, ambitions, accumulations of material things, and to then die and leaving everything behind to perish seems to be the most futile way of life imaginable. If we do not have eternal life, what use is life at all? Without eternal life, life itself is meaningless, useless, and without purpose, it has no joy. This is why John is writing this letter to the church universal. He did not address it to any one particular church, so it is written to us and we can take it personally. In believing in Jesus we can have fellowship with him and with all other believers. We have a common bond in life eternal because we have a common bond in the Word of life. John says the reason he writes this letter is to make our joy complete. He is including all who believe in the Word of life. All who believe will have complete joy. Some believe he meant that his joy would be complete, but it makes clearer sense in the word, our, to see that as to imply all who have fellowship in Jesus. Because we believe in Jesus, first of all, we will have joy, and secondly, our joy will be complete. That is our joy will not lack anything. We do not have to walk around life, our head hanging, our continence in despair, with a doom and gloom appearance, for that would be a life without any joy at all. In fact, we should actually walk around with a bounce in our step, with a smile of confidence, having a heart filled with joy to the fullest, for we live in Christ and him in us and we have the Word of life, giving us eternal life. Therefore our joy is absolutely complete in the Word of life.