Reading Through The New Testament in 2016 - November 21st - 1 John 1

I’m quite a big fan of 1 John.

1 John 1 starts in an amazing way:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

I love this passage because this is what I want my faith to look like. I want to see and touch the Gospel. I don’t just want to know it as an idea, I want to experience it! I want to say “I have seen the life Jesus promised, I’ve felt it! If you want to see the gospel look at me!”

For me, I want to know more than the menu, I want to taste the meal.

This community that 1 John comes from is enjoying the meal. They’re living the life Jesus promised, and that is why we should listen to them.

I don’t want to just know about the life Jesus promised — a life of the fullness of God — I want to live it. I want to taste, see and feel it.

I wonder if we’ve lost a lot of influence in the world because we started bragging about how well we memorized the menu but never knew what it meant to eat the meal.