Purpose Statements

1 John 5:13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

Purpose Statements are helpful to know what the purpose of a letter, a company, a song, a book report, a relationship....pretty much anything.  I am always grateful when Scripture reads so plainly.  Here John could not be more clear; "I have written this to you who believe so that you may know you have eternal life."  The whole reason for his writing is to know we have eternal life.  PTL!

The purpose of 1 John is calculated on all of this.  Read any previous devotional post on this letter and it reflects this purpose....so that we would know we have eternal life. Amen? Amen!

Yet, it is one thing to know and another thing to be reassured of....in John's community that reassurance is necessary and comforting.  because of all the false prophets and all of the turmoil of competing theologies and practices, this community needs reminded of God's promise of Eternal life that comes in Christ Jesus.

I need that reassurance from the community I participate in, don't you?  I can't overstate this but one of the simpliest forms of reassurance I recieve every night is not from an educated theologian or a colleague with words of grace, it doesn't even come from the blogs I read...it comes from the people in my OIKOS (my household).  Every night my children climb into our bed for stories, prayer and blessings.  Every night my children and my wife mark the sign of the cross on my head and remind me that "God loves you very much."  This is the blessed assurance of knowing we have eternal life.

Thank you God for reminders of your purpose in sending your only son to bring us into eternal life.- Amen

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