Paul
N. F. (25 July 2012)
"ARE YOU REALLY A
CHRISTIAN ON YOUR WAY TO HEAVEN?"
ARE YOU REALLY A CHRISTIAN, ON YOUR WAY TO
HEAVEN?
First John 2:1-11
1 My
little children, I am
telling you this so that you will stay away from
sin.
But if you sin, there is someone to plead for you before
the Father. His
name
is Jesus Christ, the one who is all that is good and who
pleases God
completely.
2 He is
the one who took
God's wrath against our sins upon himself and brought
us into fellowship with God; and he is the forgiveness for
our sins, and
not only
ours but all the world's.
3 And how
can we be sure
that we belong to him? By looking within ourselves:
are we really trying to do what he wants us to?
4 Someone
may say, "I
am a Christian; I am on my way to heaven; I belong to
Christ." But if he doesn't do what Christ tells him to, he
is a
liar.
5 But
those who do what
Christ tells them to will learn to love God more and
more. That is the way to know whether or not you are a
Christian.
6 Anyone
who says he is a
Christian should live as Christ did.
7 Dear
brothers, I am not
writing out a new rule for you to obey, for it is an
old one you have always had, right from the start. You
have heard it all
before.
8 Yet it
is always new, and
works for you just as it did for Christ; and as we
obey this commandment, to love one another, the darkness
in our lives
disappears and the new light of life in Christ shines in.
9 Anyone
who says he is
walking in the light of Christ but dislikes his fellow
man is still in darkness.
10 But
whoever loves his
fellow man is "walking in the light" and can see
his way without stumbling around in darkness and sin.
11 For he
who dislikes his
brother is wandering in spiritual darkness and
doesn't know where he is going, for the darkness has made
him blind so
that he cannot see the way.
Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.