1 John 1:2
We
live in a world of quick fixes. We take a pill to cure most illnesses. No more staying
in bed for months hanging onto life and then recuperating from the hanging on
process. Antibiotics take care of most of the illnesses that used to kill most
people. Many of the diseases we now struggle with rarely occurred; people died
of other things before they ever developed them. Many of our old age diseases
just didn’t happen; no one lived that long.
And
even with all our modern medicine, we still don’t have cures for so many
things. It would be nice if we could find a cure for our spiritual woes in a
bottle, a one-stop shop, a universal cure. That would be something to BLOG
about.
Well,
John tells us about just such a cure in the person of Jesus. John’s simple
language portrays some of the most profound Truths available to humanity. He
starts by saying that life appeared. He says it is eternal life that appeared
to them. And that this life was with the Father before coming to appear. But
how can this be? How can the embodiment of life come in a person? Mystery!
But
this is exactly what John proclaims. He says that Life, capital L life, came in
the person of Jesus. That is because we know from other places in Scripture
that Jesus was responsible with the Father and Holy Spirit for all of creation
including life itself. His voice was heard when “Let there be” was spoken in
the beginning of the universe. His voice continues to ring out as we look at
creation. His voice it the voice in the stars that calls people to see His
eternal power and divine nature, as Paul writes in Romans.
To
put it another way, when life is seen, Jesus speaks because He is the source of
all life. But it is more than physical life. John qualifies this life as
eternal life, not just life that goes on forever, but a quality of life that is
present in the LORD Himself. We share in that life when we share in the life of
Jesus. His life courses through our lives. If people see the results of the
LORD’s work in our lives, it is the life of Jesus they are seeing. His life can’t
help but shine and change us and those around us.
John
also wants to make sure that we know this was a real person, not just a vision
seen by many people, or a ghostly divine being masquerading as a human. This
was flesh and blood walking and living among them. This is not the invisible,
disconnected, transcendent God that many people believe. He is not sitting on
some distant throne watching the affairs of men, but never gets involved. He
didn’t start the clock ticking and then step back and watch it wind down.
Instead,
our God got involved. In fact He was involved at every moment, even before time
began to count off moments. And He is still involved at every moment. When
suicide bombers kill people, the LORD is there, reaching out to both the bomber
and the victims. He is there with the survivors reaching out, calling them to
Himself and offering reconciliation and comfort.
Are
you ready to recognize the Life present in your life? Do you see Him at every
turn and every pause? Are you proclaiming Him with your actions and your words?