Today, Wednesday September 29
Watch Out For The Fake
1 John 5:19-21 “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know 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, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Today is our last chat on the little Epistle of 1 John. As we have studied this book we have hopefully been encouraged to live the life that is real! We as believers can live in an atmosphere of reality. Most unsaved people live in an atmosphere of pretense and sham. Believers have been given spiritual discernment to know the true from the false, but the unsaved do not have this understanding. Believers do not simply choose between good and bad; they choose between true and false. An idol represents that which is false and empty; and a person who lives for idols will himself become false and empty.
Few people today bow to idols of wood and metal. Nevertheless, other idols capture their attention and affection. Covetousness, for example, is idolatry (Col. 3:5). A man may worship his bankbook or his stock portfolio just as fervently as a so-called heathen worships his ugly idol. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve" (Matt. 4:10). The thing we serve is the thing we worship! Whatever controls our lives and "calls the signals" is our god. That is why Jesus said,“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) Whatever has become our source of security has become our god and what we really worship!
This explains why God warns us against the sin of idolatry. Not only is it a violation of His commandment (Ex. 20:1-6), but it is a subtle way for Satan to take control of us. When "things" take God's place in our lives, we are guilty of idolatry. This means we are living for the unreal instead of for the real.
To a man of the world, the Christian life is unreal and the worldly life is real. This is because a man of the world lives by what he sees and feels (things) and not by what God says in His Word. An idol is a temporal thing, Jesus Christ is eternal God. "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18).
The world boasts of its enlightenment, but a believer walks in the real light, because God is light. The world talks about love, but it knows nothing of the real love which a believer experiences because "God is love." The world displays its wisdom and learning, but a believer lives in truth because "the Spirit is truth." God is light, love, and truth; and these together make a life that is real.
Don’t forget to regularly take the test of obedience, love, and truth which are found in this epistle. They are the evidence of salvation and the essentials of fellowship, the secret of true and abiding life. And John's last word and admonition, "Keep yourselves from idols," simply means, "Watch out for the imitation and the artificial and be real!" May the Lord help us to live the “real life” today!
God bless!