Overcoming the World

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

OVERCOMING THE WORLD

1 John 5:1-5

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

NIV

We do believe that Jesus is the Christ. There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the Christ. We have read the word of God, the Holy Scriptures, the bible and we believe every word. It testifies that Jesus is the Christ. Therefore we are born of God. We certainly were born of the flesh, but now we are born of God. What is flesh, is flesh and it grows old and will someday die, but what is born of God is of the spirit and our spirit will never grow old nor will it die. In fact, our flesh will one day be resurrected and we will be ageless, as Christ is ageless. So because we love God we love his begotten Son. The Greek does not use the word for children here but is more like begotten, and that we know is the word that refers to Jesus, the one begotten of God. However, John goes on to include that because we love God and Jesus, we love his children, who would be our brothers, and we would carry out the commands of God. We are told that is what love is, to obey his commands. So then we first have to find out what are His commands. We know they are not burdensome because we are born of God and in being born again, we have already overcome the world. By overcoming the world, it means we are no longer subject to the principles of the world, we do not have to live by the world’s way of living, which leads to death or perish. We have overcome that because we have eternal life, we live by the principles of God. But, back to his commands. What are his commands? Of course, the first thing most of us think about is the Ten Commandments. Then again, God also gave the children of Israel many other commands as recorded in the Pentateuch. They could not keep them, which is referred to as the Law of Moses, nor can we. No one can fully keep all the commands in the Old Testament, because that was their purpose, so it would lead people to Christ. It is only in Jesus that we overcome the world, and fully live, obeying the commands of God. We are told that the work or command of God is to believe in the one he sent. Jesus, when asked about the commands of God, said there are two, which is to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He then said that all the Law and the Prophets hang in those two commands. So that if we do those two we are fulfilling all the law, all the commands of God. We need not worry about making any lists or listing all the commands. All we have to do is to love Him with all our being, our soul, our heart, our mind, and our strength, and love our neighbor in the same way we love ourselves. That is overcoming all the principles of the world. But John also makes sure we know that the main reason we have overcome the world is not about how we act, or how much we love others, but only because we believe Jesus is the Son of God. That is more than just believing in Jesus. People can believe Jesus existed, but not that he was the Son of God and therefore they are not overcomers. But we are overcomers because we do believe Jesus is the Son of God. When we look at the seven letters to the churches in the revelation that was given to John, we see the results of overcoming the world. We will be able to eat from the tree of life. We will not be hurt by the second death. We will eat of the hidden manna and also be given a new name written in stone. We will be given authority over the nations. Our names will never be blotted out from the book of life. We will be made a pillar in the temple of God, never to leave it. No one will be able to take hold of our crown. We will have the name of God written on us. We will be given the right to sit on the throne with Jesus. Now, who in their right mind would rather have the world, which will be destroyed, then all that God is giving us just because we believe Jesus is the Son of God and thus we have overcome the world.