Taken by the World

Today, we continue our interpretation of 1 John by examining 1 John 4.

The first section of 1 John 4 that I would like to bring up is from 1 John 4: 1,5-6: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

The basic meaning of these verses is that Christians should not listen to everyone, but only those who speak the word of God. I find this to be a much bigger problem in everyday society than most people wish to acknowledge, especially within high school and teenagers. People today are easily hooked into the world and all of its material goods. They do not think about God at all when they do worldly things, but simply listen to what society tries to teach us.

I see this all too often within teenage society. I don't know how many of you have actually been to high school within the past decade, but school spirit and honor have deteriorated into almost nothing. It is unbelievable how many students curse, cuss, and speak with foul mouths! It is come to my conclusion that the only way I can manage to avoid these mouths during lunch is if I seclude myself in a far corner of the cafeteria! Cell phones are just another example of how teenagers have been tainted by the world. During school, students still try to check their texts and messages, even though the punishment of this crime is having their phone taken for the entire school year. After school, and even in places such as our own Sunday school class, there are people who I would be lucky to drag them away from a cell phone for five minutes! It is also my conclusion that cell phones have become the number one addiction in America; more so even than tobacco and nicotine! All of these un-Godly things are of the world and the false teachings of society, as portrayed through television and music.

It is our duty as Christians to avoid the temptations and addictions of our worldly society and listen to the teachings that God gives us in the Bible. I'm not trying to steer anybody towards becoming Amish or anything, but we need to realize who is in charge. God is the one in charge of everything, not cell phones and television.

As if this teaching was not enough for one chapter, John continues to talk more about loving your neighbors. 1 John 4: 11-12: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

John may have included this in the same chapter as he talks about false prophets to have us remember that we are supposed to love even the worst of people. Just because people are taken away from God by worldly people and worldly things, that does not mean that we can forsake them. It is our duty, also, as Christians to love everyone equally, regardless of where they are from, what they do, or how they act. If a person is bringing a Christian down in his or her faith, then it may be necessary to turn away, but pure Christians should always try to help those that they can. As John says, our love in God is perfected through our love for each other!