September 11th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

How To Stay True

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Merciful Father, it’s overwhelming to think that You, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, hear and answer my prayers.

Read 1 John 2:15-27

[15] Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. [16] For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world. [17] The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. [18] Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. [19] They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. [20] But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. [21] I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. [22] Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist-denying the Father and the Son. [23] No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. [24] As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. [25] And this is what he promised us-eternal life. [26] I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. [27] As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-just as it has taught you, remain in him.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remake you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed” (Rom. 12:2, J. B. Phillips).

Think Further

After his powerful words on true love, John turns to counterfeit love, and the falsehood that seems true and right, but lets you down. What are the marks of false love? And how can we be protected?

False love is worldly desire (15-17). John could have written v. 16 about the modern advertising culture that tells us that sex, possessions or status are the way to happiness! Don’t fall in love with all that, he says; it’s all so temporary, so ephemeral (17). False love doesn’t stay true to fellowship (19). The church has been divided, and John says that this breach of love indicates a lack of truth. True love stays committed, even when relationships are tough. False love prefers a different Jesus (18,22,23). In v. 22, John is probably referring to a particular, early heresy which was embarrassed by the cross, and so distinguished between Jesus and the Christ: “the Christ” was a heavenly figure who rested upon the man Jesus until just before the cross, so that only Jesus died there. John says that this denies the true relationship between the Father and the Son, whose blood was truly shed on the cross for us. 

Rather, true love holds on to the basic gospel message (24,25). The original, simple truths of the gospel are what give us fellowship with God and promise us eternal life. True love lives out of an inner, instinctive grasp of what is true and right (20,27). It’s not clear what John means by the “anointing” to which he refers here. Perhaps he means that if we live in fellowship with God, then we have an anointing, a deep instinctual spiritual awareness, a spiritual knowing that will guide us and keep us from being pulled away by false loves.

Apply

Do you experience this inner instinctual awareness? Do false loves pull at you? Turn your thoughts into prayer.

Closing prayer

Lord, the endless messages of the world can subtly influence me and squeeze me in the world’s mold. Forgive me, and keep me on the right path.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store