Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts. 1 John 4:21
My three-year-old nephew Owen has a very prized possession: his stuffed monkey, who he very astutely named, "Monkey." One day, my brother, his dad, heard Owen screaming from his room, "Daaaaad! Something happened to Monkey!" My brother ran to his room to find Monkey's arm falling off and its stuffing falling out. Immediately, my brother told him that they were going to take his stuffed animal to be fixed. He quickly called a friend who was great at sewing and was more than willing to fix Owen's stuffed animal. Monkey is extremely valuable to Owen, and as a result, my brother did whatever he could to protect and fix this beloved stuffed animal. It is true, isn't it, that we protect what is important to us. We protect what is valuable to us. More valuable than anything else are Christ and Scripture. The question is, "How can we protect the teachings of the Bible from being tampered with or twisted?" We are going to talk about this today in our study of 1 John 4, and be reminded that, as followers, we are to protect His name and His word.
"Dear children," John writes in the last chapter of 1 John, "keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts" (1 John 4:21). John warns us in this verse to be careful to protect God's place and the things of God, which includes His word, in our lives and the lives of others. You see we have so many things fighting for our attention and affection in this world, and if we are not careful, we can allow other people, positions, or possessions to take the place in our lives that belongs to Him. When this happens, we are not protecting His place in our lives. Other things take up our time and attention, and suddenly we find that we are not living in a way that honors Him.
The Apostle Paul writes it this way in Romans 1: "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile" (verse 16). In an honor-shame culture, another way to say this verse could be understood is to say, "I honor this Good news about Christ." This means that Paul did everything to honor or protect the name of Christ and His word.
A large part of honoring the name of Christ and His word for the apostle Paul meant sharing the good news about Christ and salvation with others. You see, if we only protect his name and never share it with others, we have not fully honored His name. Honoring His name also means we have a heart's desire to share it with those who are lost. Paul understood this very well.
My friend, "keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts." Protect and honor His name in your own lives and in the lives of others. May it be said of us that God held first place in our lives and that we did our best to call others to also honor and protect His name.
What can you do today, my friend, to protect what the world teaches about Christ and His word? Maybe your call is to study Scripture to know what it teaches about Him and what it teaches about itself. Maybe your call is to post on social media what God is teaching you. Maybe when you hear someone saying things that are not true about God or His word, your call is to lovingly speak up with the truth. Whatever it is, determine today to honor and protect the name of Christ and the word of God.
Read Romans 1:8-17 (NLT)
Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.
One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
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