“In this world we are like Jesus”

     1 John 4:17

     We wish we were. We want to be. John seems to give us the benefit of the doubt that we are. But just how would this show through in practice? Scanning back through John’s letter, here are a few characteristics of Jesus “in this world”:

·    He walks in the light. If we do this, we have fellowship with one another; and we love our sister and brother. 1:7; 2:10.

·    He loves his Father. If we live as Jesus did, we know we are in him. 2:5.

·    He does the will of God. If we do this, we will live forever. 2:17.

·    He is righteous. If we do what is right, we know that we have been born of him. 2:29; 3:7.

·    The world does not know him. So it doesn’t know us either. 3:1.

·    He is pure. We should purify ourselves. 3:3.

·    In him is no sin. We must not keep on sinning. 3:6.

·    He laid down his life for us. We ought to lay ours down for our brothers and sisters. 3:16.

·    He loves us. We must love our brother and sister. 4:19.

     The writer of this letter, the apostle John, seems to have been the sweetest, gentlest of all the apostles. He was very specifically “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, he is the one to whom Jesus entrusted his own mother, he is the only one who lived to a great old age and died a natural death. Somehow advice from a man like this, a “gentle” man, seems easier to take—we really want to be like Jesus out of love.