LOVE IN ‘CANCEL CULTURE’

The virtual world is never silent. Its voices can often be negative, harsh, or even hateful. Similarly, in John’s day there was a cohort of false preachers who wanted to ‘cancel’ him and his teachings about Jesus. To progress spiritually, therefore, we need to exercise caution about the sources we trust and the voices to which we listen. The spiritual gift of ‘distinguishing between spirits’1 was probably never needed more than it is now. Thankfully, though, we know that he who is in us is far greater than the one who mobilizes all forms of communication to oppose the purposes of Christ. The word ‘antichrist’ (v. 3) means just that – against Christ. Love, however, can conquer all, even for we who have never seen God (v. 12).

Love is the hinge on which John’s whole letter hangs and turns. The word is used 13 times in verses 7–12 alone, 43 times in the entire epistle. God’s love is active and effective (v. 9), leading to the coming of Jesus into the world to be our ‘atoning sacrifice’ (v. 10). We need to receive that love and then give it away. That means sometimes shutting our ears to the clamor of those who seek to deconstruct Jesus as being less than God, or less than man. If he was not fully divine, then he could not have been the amazing deliverer from sin that we needed him to be. If he was not fully human, he would have been a spiritual entity that could not have suffered on the cross in our place. John confounds his first-century critics with his clear declaration that God is love and that he has himself acted in love to save fallen humanity. The Word has become flesh and ‘We have seen his glory.’2

Christmas reveals that ‘God is love’ (v. 8). Write down some of the evidence of that love in your life today. Thank God for Jesus, your ‘atoning sacrifice’ (v. 10).