“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.” 1 John 1:1-4 (NIV)
2025 will bring “new”. New baby, new job, new teacher, new rule, new house, new coat, new teeth, new Bible, new in-law, new computer, new shoes, new car, new year. New can be really good or really difficult. But one good thing new does is that it helps reboot our life. We can start with a fresh perspective, doing away with what we didn’t like or what was slowing us down, and refocusing on the things we want more of. The book of 1 John is a great book of the Bible for new beginnings.
John the Apostle, who wrote 1 John, was in the later years of his life when he wrote these words. John was a faithful follower of Jesus who had been with Jesus, prayed with Jesus, seen Jesus, laughed with Jesus–and wanted that same reality to be experienced by all people, especially those who already had followed Jesus.
We Are Loved By God, Which Allows Us to Love God in Return
Growing up Jewish in New Testament times, John was familar with the duty of pursuing God and obeying His law. People all around him pursued God because of duty not from desire or relationship with God. But when John came to know Jesus, everything changed. He had the new perspective of pursuit or loyalty to God to be out of the overflow of his love for God.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16 (NIV). And because John had experienced the love of God through Jesus–“God first loved us”--he could love God in return. His love for God is what changed everything. His love for God was the thing that brought joy and turned his duty-filled religion of “checking the boxes” into a relationship. John found great joy in being loved and loving God.
Is God Just a Cosmic Power or an Intimate Father?
John’s spiritual environment was one that focused on duty, not joy or love or relationship. That view is not a view God intended for us to have toward Him. Jesus came to this planet to reveal God’s love to the world and to help us understand that it was not just about law but it was about experiencing God in a relationship.
Today, we pursue happiness, not truth. We do all we can to have joy and love often at the expense of truth. People live out “their truth”. Our lives are spent chasing happiness. So, on one extreme, you have obedience to God without joy. On the other extreme, you have joy (or perceived joy) without obedience to God. Jesus leads us to a balance of both extremes in our relationship with Him.
Pursue God Out of Love and Joy Will Be Our Reward
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—” 1 John 1:1-2 (ESV)
This is the personal account of someone who has encountered Jesus and had a life-changing experience. This is a firsthand account of the truth that Jesus is the Messiah–the Son of God.
John is saying: It wasn’t just that I was with Jesus, hung out with Him, got nice advice from Him–John says Jesus is Life. John experienced a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and he wanted the same for us.
Run After Jesus and You Will Find Joy Following You
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 (NIV)
The three things we pursue the most: freedom, happiness and peace–those three things can only be found in Jesus Christ. If you will run after Christ you will experience Him in a personal way that brings you other-worldly joy.
