1st John 5:3-5

1 John 5:3-5 “Here is what it means to love God. It means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not hard to obey. That's because everyone who is a child of God has won the battle over the world. Our faith has won the battle for us. Who is it that has won the battle over the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

This is another one of John’s central themes; obedience to God is the proof of our love. He says that His commandments are not burdens. This doesn’t mean they’re not hard! Christian love is not easy!

To love someone who hurts your feeling or insults you, to love someone you don’t even particularly like, is not easy. But, God isn’t going to give us a commandment without giving us the strength to carry it out. With God’s help all things are possible. Love makes all things possible.

Like the song “He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother” – if you do for someone you don’t like, it’s hard, but if you choose to love the person and then you do for him or her, it’s not a burden. God’s commandments are a privilege because to carry them out is an opportunity to show love.

So, difficult? Yes. Burdensome? No.

I read somewhere that there is something in the Christian, which makes him able to conquer the world. And remember when we talk about the “world” like this it’s the world apart from God and even in opposition to God. What this is that enables us to conquer the world is faith. Faith that Jesus is the Son of God.

That means we believe in the incarnation. And the reason that’s so important and so victory giving is that it means God cared enough for men to lay aside His glory and take upon Himself the limitations of humanity in an act of love and sacrifice that passes human understanding. It means God knows our trials, temptations and sorrows. It means He is involved in the human situation. It means that everything that happens to us is fully understood by God.

Once we have the faith that God understands and cares we have a defense to resist the temptation of the world, the pressures of worldly standards and motives; because Christ is now in us.

There are a lot of things in life, which try to take our faith away: sorrow, disappointment, failure…the six o’clock news! But, we know Christ will be victorious over all – because the Bible tells us so!