Verse of the Day 2/22

Verse of the Day 2/22

1 John 5:13

New International Version

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

It is hard to watch someone deal with the anxiety of whether or not they will go to heaven, especially with those you know have professed faith in Christ.  Satan would like nothing better than to raise questions and put doubts in their minds, trying to prevent them from becoming a witness.  We need no better example of how impactful that witness can be than the thief on the cross and his 11th hour conversion.  But his testimony continues to give hope to people today.

In today's verse John writes that the very purpose of his writing this letter was that the readers could "know", know for certain that they have eternal life.  They have it now, it cannot be taken away from them.  The statement "this is how we know" occurs 8 times in 1 john and "know" in various forms occurs over 40 times.  Do you think that John is trying to drive home a point?  YES!

This is nothing new with John.  In the gospel of John he writes:

John 20:31

New International Version

31 But these are written that you may believe[a] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

If you have put your faith in Christ count on it.  If you haven't yet, do it now.  By believing you'll have life in His name and have that "blessed assuraance" and testify of it.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

Blessings,

Mike

Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV