1 John 2:12-17 - Forgiven, Faithful, and Focused on Eternity

1 John 2:12-17

Their Spiritual State

12 I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

13 I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,
Because you have overcome the wicked one.

I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the Father.

14 I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I have written to you, young men,
Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

We are to be as the readers and original recipients of this letter, knowing we are forgiven and living faithfully with our life focused (Matthew 6:33-34) on eternal treasures.  As little children, babes in Christ, we find the foundation of our life on the assurance of our salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ’s person and His work for us alone.  As spiritual fathers, we grow into focusing our lives on knowing our Lord and looking back to the beginning of our new life (Galatians 2:20) in Him.  As young men in the middle of our journey of sanctification, we learn to walk by faith and resist the devil (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9) to be overcomers in Christ (1 Peter 5:10) as our sovereign Lord over all.  Yes, little children know the Father in knowing His Son (John 14:7, 9, 1 John 1:3, 3:1) and read these words of encouragement with joy.  As fathers in the faith, we continue to deepen our knowledge and knowing of our Lord through His word by the instruction of His Spirit as we wisely build upon the foundation of our faith (1 Corinthians 3:10-11) who is Christ, according to all Jesus taught us (Matthew 28:20) that we might teach other disciples after us.  Yes, as we grow into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) we gain His strength in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:10) and put His word deep into our hearts and minds to overcome the wicked one who is out to stop us and the gospel as we read in Revelation 12:17 to be aware of these things.  We come to the summation of warnings to focus the desires of our lives in heart and mind on the eternal in these last three verses.  We are not to love the world if we want to experience the love of God who saved us out of it.  The world offers fulfillment of desires to please our flesh and covetousness and what we imagine we have gained ourselves apart from the goodness and providence of grace from His hand.  Instead we are called to do the will of God as our desire above all others to focus on what lasts from now into eternity.  Then we remain securely in His love and grace with a smile on His face as He says, “well done, good and faithful servant.”  May we all keep focused on being forgiven by grace that we be faithful to the end with the focused direction of our lives set upon Him (Philippians 3:13-14).