Continue in Him

1 John 2

Sunday, October 16, 2022   

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.”

That is how this chapter starts off.  Good plan, more easily said than done.  Thankfully, John doesn’t stop writing here.

“But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

If you are reading this, you probably already know it.  You have read it before – in this chapter, or elsewhere in the Bible.  But isn’t that a good reminder?  We are not perfect, but thankfully, we have an advocate. 

This whole chapter is full of “good reminders.”  And John presents them in little different ways.

In verses 12-14 he went about it in a positive way.  Instead of saying don’t forget this, don’t slip back into your old ways, he turns it to the positive and says “you are strong” and “you have overcome the evil one.”

He approaches it from the other side too in the next verse saying “Do not love the world…”

But throughout the chapter, I am drawn back to the positive affirmations that he writes to his audience.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth

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.

²⁸ And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

Good instruction can come from both telling people what not to do, but also telling people what to do, and telling them to keep doing the good they are doing.  It is an encouragement as well as a reminder, and that sticks with me today as I write this.

~Stephanie Fletcher

Reflection Questions

1. Reread 1 John 2 looking specifically for the things John tells us to do, as well as those things we are not to do. Which instructions do you find easiest to follow? Where do you need a little push in the right direction to keep yourself on the right path – or off of the wrong path?
2. What do you think our “advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” sees you doing and would tell you to keep doing? What will you do today to keep doing that! How will you ‘continue in him’?