May 3, 2018
1 John 5:1-6…“Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” vs. 5
To believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, was a huge step for those early Christians. And then, once they had come to faith, they went on to make the audacious claim that they were going to conquer the world. Think of it! They had nothing going for them. At most they were a few hundred persons scattered in various cities around the eastern Mediterranean. They had no influence in government or military affairs. In fact, no one was paying much attention to them. Yet they truly were convinced that Jesus the Christ was the Savior of the world and one day his love would unite all people. Until that day, they would continue to obey the commandment of love and proclaim the good news of resurrection and life to any who would listen. In our time, we can see the effects of their determination and zeal; there are now hundreds of millions of people who share the faith of those early believers. Their message and influence has reached the ends of the earth. But we also see that many have lost that early fervor. In our age of relativism, there is a sense that it really doesn’t make any difference what anyone believes, so, we mostly keep our mouths shut and our faith undercover. What a sad day it will be for the church if, one day, we simply abandon the proclamation of the gospel! John would be dismayed!
Thought for the Day: Why has the church lost its zeal for proclamation?
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