The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 10 January 2022 – God Has Given Us Eternal Life In Christ
Click HERE to Read Previous MESSAGES
TOPIC: God Has Given Us Eternal Life In Christ
Read: 1 John 5: 1-12 (KJV)
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 In fact, this is love for God: to keep 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 the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify:
8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
THE MESSAGE:
We are to appreciate and believe what God had done in Christ and that Christ is born of God. Anyone who loves God ought to love Christ too, who in love for humankind, relinquished His position in heaven and came down to this world to die for humanity (John 3:16). Thus, verses 2 and 3, insist that if believers love God and Christ, they should equally love one another. It is our obligation to love as Jesus taught in John 13:34,35. The love that is being emphasised here is what Greeks called ‘Agape.’ This is a sacrificial love which gives out to satisfy others, not minding the cost. Through this love, true believers are compelled to willingly obey all the commandments of God.
The believers’ victory is emphasised in verses 4 & 5. “For whosoever is born of God overcomes the world.” This means that he who is born of God is born for God to live victoriously over the world. It is abundantly clear that faith in Christ is the seed for this victory. When anyone is born again, Christ indwells and empowers him or her to become a child of God and to overcome sin, flesh and the world. In verses 6 to 9, we see that having thus acquired the power to become an overcomer, a child of God should now live by and exercise his faith in the Lord Jesus (verse 7). Thus, verses 10 to 12, talk about the witness and record of God which are greater than that of man. God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. Anyone that desires eternal life must accept Jesus. You cannot have eternal life without Jesus.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for granting me eternal life through Your death and resurrection. Please, come into my heart; sanctify me and make me Your child indeed. Amen.
