Under-confident?

Somewhere I heard that lions hunt in teams. One lion roars on the side of the path. The prey flees the roaring sound, heading to the other side... right into the teeth and claws of the other lion. In a similar way, overconfidence is dangerous, but it would be a mistake to go too far in the other direction. Paul mentioned this in Ephesians, where he talked about being tossed to and fro by every passing wind. Here in 1 John 2, John assures his readers that they already know enough to think for themselves.

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

1 John 2.20-21

Besides assuring them that they know the truth, he tells them how to tell a false teacher from a true one:

Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist - he denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 2.22

What does it mean to deny that Jesus is the Christ? One obvious way is if someone says, "Jesus is not the Christ," or "Christ has not come yet."

Are there less obvious ways? Do I live my life as though Jesus were irrelevant to me? I hope not, but I'm not 100% sure that 100% of the time I'm as aware of him as I should be.

Fortunately, our relationship with God doesn't depend on performance! John is more concerned that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. (verse 24). And that we don't follow somebody who wants to convince us otherwise.

posted 05-Dec-2006