John ends his letter by encouraging the readers with three facts that we take on faith:
1. Because the Christian doesn’t make a practice of sin God protects us from evil.
2. Christians live in an order that is totally opposite of the world.
3. God has granted Christians understanding of his nature unavailable to those outside of grace.
Why do we possess these gifts? Because of God’s grace. That is why our lives have to be so obviously different from the world around us. The people in the world can’t understand how we think. So when they hear critical words they call us judgmental. When we seem inflexible they charge us with prejudices. When we take a stand on our invisible faith they say were are superstitious. The world does not understand us and cannot understand us. They are like 2 year olds listening to the Christian speak about nuclear fission. But God has given us a language that they can understand; his unconditional love expressed in acts of kindness, mercy, and patience. I wonder if that is the Law Jeremiah was speaking of in 31:33-32 which God promised to write on the minds and hearts of everyone in the new covenant?
It took me about 8 minutes to read this passage.
Stuart
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