Physical reality in 1 John 1

We recently began a new series on Sundays exploring the love of God. I encouraged our church to read the book of 1 John, which is a very short book near the end of the Bible. 

It’s a lovely book (actually a letter) with a lot to say about God’s love, as well as how that is demonstrated in Jesus to take away what would separate us from God (sin).

To encourage you, here are some quick thoughts about 1 John 1.

Reading this chapter (which is only ten verses long), I have been caught by the very opening. Look at the verbs in the first three verses – declare, heard, seen (with our own eyes), touched, testify. The writer is talking about something very real, something experienced with our physical senses, something which can be seen, heard and touched.

This is the writer’s experience of God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which he is declaring in order to have fellowship with his hearers and readers.

The letter goes on to speak of joy, love and sin, all of which we might tend to treat as rather abstract concepts. But this is a letter rooted in physical reality, in sight, hearing and touch.

This is a challenge to see the love of God in action around me, in the lives of the people I meet. How can I show the love of God and express joy in tangible ways that others can see, hear and feel? 

And of course, sin is also a physical reality in all of our lives. The promise of verse 7 is that Jesus’ blood brings forgiveness and cleansing – it puts us right with God. But this too is in the real-world context of our fellowship with one another as we walk in God’s light together

It’s easy to speak of being a community together. My prayer and hope is that we can learn to live out the reality of that more. But that too needs to be more than an abstract hope and prayer – let’s seek out ways to share life together that we can see, hear and touch.