Day 336

Daniel 9:1–11:1; 1 John 2:18–3:6; Psalm 121:1-8; Proverbs 28:27-28

DURING YOUR JOURNEY of faith, what has led you into doubt? If we’re honest, a majority of the unrest stems from unmet expectations —God hasn’t done what we’ve asked Him to do or is taking too long. This leads us into discontent and eventually into doubt, which then guides us toward deception and extinguishes the flame of faith. Some completely walk away from God in these situations and become anti-God. This is what we read about today in 1 John:

Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

The apocalyptic worldview of the early church, which we recently discussed, plays heavily in contextualizing this scenario, as we can see in the words of John. But why did some of these early believers leave the faith and become anti-Christ when it seemed the end was near?

Unmet expectations.

They came to faith expecting the imminent arrival of Jesus and a ground-floor opportunity in the Kingdom of God. Instead, they received ridicule, marginalization, and persecution. They expected a suitable timeline and abandoned the faith when they realized that suffering and endurance were part of the story. Or as John said it, “They never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed.”

In the Crock-Pot that formed the early church, many teachings were being developed around Jesus’ message and ministry. Questions of Jesus’ true nature —whether human or divine (or both) —were being explored, and skewed versions of the original teachings were plentiful. This created confusion and doubt as various conflicting teaching crept into churches full of people who were marginalized.

John wanted to clearly communicate the deepest, most essential truth of the Christian faith, aimed directly at the doubt plaguing many of the faithful, and he did it in the clearest terms possible: “Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either” (1 John 2:22-23).

John wasn’t instructing his readers to stop asking questions of their faith or to cease growing their understanding of it. Quite the contrary. He was reminding them that the truth they heard from the beginning had not changed —regardless of the swirl of new teachings that were leading people away.

Finally, John told us why he was bringing the subject up, and he reminded us of something essential and available that will always guide us in the ways of truth:

I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true —it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.

This is supremely good advice for us who believe —especially when we are going through the process of resetting expectations and dealing with doubt. Let’s remember today that God owes us nothing. It is we who owe Him everything. And let’s fully embrace the counsel of the apostle John and remain faithful to what we were taught from the beginning. Then, when we are faced with doubt, we will remember why we are walking this path, and the Holy Spirit will “guide [us] into all truth” (John 16:13).

MEDITATION:

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.