I have this issue of Jesus picking favorites i.e. John. I guess it’s a good idea, not to look at Jesus as you know the top of the clique and picking His favorites. I have to understand this context. At that point in His life, Jesus had only been in ministry for a couple of years. He didn’t have a huge following like He does now. He picked a couple of ordinary guys who he could walk with. Out of these 12, we get the whole, "many are called but few are chosen" line.
Jesus looked more at the hearts of these people, at their devotion to him, at their potential, which everyone had potential. He never turned anybody away and made each person feel like they belonged. When he was healing the sick, I don’t think his mind was like “these guys are wasting my time and I really wanted to hang out with John,” In fact when he was resting with the disciples and people came up to him and the disciples tried to turn them away, he says “no let them come.” As long as you press in after him, he won’t turn you away.
Many are called, but few are chosen, and being chosen in God’s context is totally different from the world’s. It’s not about being more special, more gifted, more of anything than anybody else. In fact, Jesus has a reputation for picking the least special. It’s about your heart and how badly you want God, and how much you press in to meet him. Abraham was full of faith, Noah was righteous, Esther was courageous, but even in all these traits that these heroes of the Bible are known for, they had their weaknesses, Abraham didn’t believe Sarah would get pregnant, Noah got drunk, Esther was scared about stepping out and Mordecai had to encourage (if not push her)
For me, right now, I’m called, but I’m scared and discontent. Doubts fill my head ever so often. I’m scared of the Holy Spirit wrecking me, because I’m afraid my heart will explode, either out of fear of that supernatural encounter or out of fear that I’ll just be so full of love and emotion and joy and all that (God, I was horrible and evil, yet you still came to me) or out of fear that I’ll just lose control.
So at the same time, I’m learning about Jesus, how he only wants the best for us, and how his love didn’t come to steal, kill or destroy my life, but to give me life.
I’m also learning about sin. Man, the devil does not give you a break. Honestly, last night I went from questioning if Jesus has picked me, if he cares about me, to feelings of worthlessness, straight on to my old patterns of sin. Depressed->comfort food->maybe I should give that old boyfriend a call. I just opened one of the sermons on my computer and played it on a loop until I fell asleep (clutching my Bible to my chest) and God is faithful, my mom called me and cheered me up for absolutely no reason, just to check up on me. And there I was doubting Him, smh!
Sin is inevitable in the life of a human. Jenn Johnson said it best, “Everybody poops, but you’ve gotta flush!” Temptation is all around us and because we were born out of sin, that sinful nature is ingrained in us. However when we got saved, Jesus shed his blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We put to death that old sinful nature and became clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Problem is, once you become conditioned to do something, it’s hard to break old habits. This is why the Bible splits into two the heart and the mind. Your heart is changed instantly because the Holy Spirit takes root and changes your heart, that old sinful nature is taken out of you. The mind though needs renewing. The bible says if we say we have fellowship with him, yet keep walking in the darkness that’s a lie (1 John 1:6) This means, for a true life change/revival/renewal, we break the old habits, by building new habits and conditioning ourselves to holiness. So, obviously this could take time, but it’s inevitable. A change of heart will lead to a change of mind. You have to consciously choose to do right in a situation and soon, it will come naturally. We have to choose to walk in the light as he is in the light.
In the meantime though, we might still sin, and this sin might lead to consequences that we have to suffer here on earth, but we have an advocate in Jesus, who atoned for our sins. 1 John 2:1. This isn’t a license to sin, like I said, on earth we will reap the consequences of that, if you rob a bank, you’ll go to jail, if you lie to your mom, you’ll feel guilty.
Think about it this way, when I get married, and my husband forgets my birthday, I’ll be hurt, but of course I’ll forgive him. If I forget his birthday, of course he’ll forgive me, but, even though I know his forgiveness will always be forthcoming, why would I want to disappoint someone that I love? When we sin, we’ve already been forgiven, because Jesus already shed the blood to cover our sins, and love covers a multitude of sins, but why would I want to hurt someone I love? It’s not just about the blood, the sin, heaven, hell. It’s about love. It’s about connection. When someone expresses love in its purest, truest form, why would you want to return that by hate?
1 John 5:1 says, "For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments do not weigh us down, because everybody who’s been fathered by God has conquered the world."
Like I said, last night, I was tempted to go back to my old pattern of sin, and Jesus would have forgiven me, that’s a given, but to hear the devil laughing in my ear, telling me I’m such a failure. I hate that. I don’t want to hear those words ever again. Even worse, to lose all that I’ve worked hard for, in building this connection with God again, losing that tiny measure of Holy Spirit that’s been placed on me so far and shutting down the Holy Spirit in me, and letting Him see me like that. I can’t do that again.
This applies to major issues, like sexual immorality and minor issues like, lying.
So, how do we stay true to God, to our calling and kick temptation's butt at the same time?
- Remember, just because you’re chosen, it doesn’t mean you take your gifting and keep it to yourself. That’s why John says, what we have seen we announce to you also: 1 John 1:2 It's for the good of the Church and for the community.
- The love of God is perfected in those who obey Him, like in Jesus. We have to walk as Jesus walked: 1 John 2:5-6
- John says it twice in 1 John chapters 1 and 2; salvation doesn’t end at the prayer. If you say you’re saved, but you walk in the darkness, it’s a lie. Salvation results in change.
- If I keep the commandments, I reside in God and God resides in me, and God in me is shown by the Holy Spirit he gave me: 1 John 3:23-24
- There are many false teachers among us, and we should test them. Every spirit should say Jesus came in the flesh from God: 1 John 4:2
Remember the mission of Christ can be summed up as LOVE and RELATIONSHIP not LAWS and REGULATIONS
John talks a lot about love:
- Love is sacrifice like Jesus gave his life
- We should love one another because love is from God, and EVERYONE who loves has been fathered by God and knows God: 1 John 4:7
- God is love: 1 John 4:8
- Love isn’t that we loved God, but that He loves us and sent his son to atone for our sin 1 John 4:10
- We come to know and believe in love God has in us: 1 John 4:16 But this love is perfected in us, so that we might have confidence in the day of judgment
- There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear, because fear has to do with punishment and there is no punishment in love. 1 John 4:18
- Everybody who believes in Jesus, can call God father. We should love everybody fathered by God 1 John 5:1
Finally, John ends his 2nd letter by saying guard yourself from idols in 2 John 5:21. We know from experience that teptation comes up from the idols we've placed in our lives, for example, if I'm a lover of money, it's easy to be tempted to sin, if I'm a lover of immediate gratification, I'm more inclined to take the easy way out and cheat or lie or have affairs when things aren't going well at home.
John says if we guard ourselves from idols, we develop FAITH, EXCELLENCE, KNOWLEDGE, SELF-CONTROL, PERSEVERENCE, GODLINESS, BROTHERLY AFFECTION, UNSELFISH LOVE
If these things are mine and continuously increasing, they will keep me from becoming ineffective and unproductive in my pursuit of knowing Jesus more intimately. However if I forget these things, I’m blind or nearsighted because I’ve forgotten about the cleansing of my past sin. I should also be sure of my calling and election so, I won’t stumble into sin and entry into the Kingdom of Jesus will be richly provided for me.
