Aug 20, 2017
This fourth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 is an important one. It is called, “Present-Tense Belief” and deals with a problem I think most of us face as believers. The tendency to see our testimony as something in the past. We have been trained to think of our faith story as having taken place at a singular point in time. But John would seem to differ from that perspective. He would see our faith as ever-evolving and expanding, growing in depth and confidence. It is never stagnant or stationary. The faith to believe should become the faith to keep on believing. Saving faith should become sanctifying faith. If we find ourselves thinking that placing our faith in Christ was a one-time event that occurred sometime in the past, we are missing the point. There is no doubt that the moment we place our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we are immediately declared positionally righteous by God. But he is out to make us practically righteous – by transforming our thoughts and behavior – as we continue to place our faith in Him.