OVERCOMING IN LIFE (1)

…The WORD of GOD ABIDES IN YOU, and YOU HAVE OVERCOME the wicked one” – 1 John 2:14b

Beloved, Welcome to the Month of OVERCOMING IN LIFE by GOD’S WORD: “I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the WORD of GOD ABIDES IN YOU, and YOU HAVE OVERCOME the wicked one” (1 Jh.2:14). An overcomer is a person who defeats someone or something in a conflict, struggle or tussle. Here, John noted that the young men were strong and had OVERCOME the wicked one, by the Word of God abiding in them!

In this second chapter, the apostle encouraged Believers in Christ to maintain fellowship by living free from sin (vv.1-2). He initially addressed them as “My little children” because it takes a child-like heart and attitude to relate with our Father-God. John then provided evidences that confirm God’s people (vv.3-14). With all the confusion in the world, it is comforting and reassuring to read such verses that address the confidence of salvation: “And hereby WE KNOW that WE KNOW HIM, if we keep His commandments...hereby WE KNOW that WE ARE IN HIM” (v.3). We can and ought to know that we know God and that we’re in Him by the proof of our overcoming lives.

Our assurance of salvation is not based on mere mental knowledge, but on transformed lives as a result of our encounter with God: “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (v.6). The Living Proof of salvation is Walking in the Love and Light of God (vv.9-11). The Overcoming Life is one that demonstrates Dominion over: Sin, the Flesh and its works; the devil, his devices and works; demons, diseases and works of darkness; and life’s battles, conflicts, challenges, storms, struggles, tensions, troubles, trials, and tribulations.

John eventually graded Believers into three classes: little children, young men, and fathers (vv.12-14). This infers spiritual growth or maturity: little children are immature spiritually, while fathers are the most mature.

The little children have had their sins forgiven (v.12). This is how every Christian starts; with sins forgiven. When this happens, we are not only little children in a spiritual sense; we also know our father: “I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father” (v.13). One of the marks of a new Christian is the desire for milk: “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the WORD, that you may grow thereby” (1 Pet.2:2). Spiritual babies long for milk, not meat. In this passage, two different words are used for “little children”: TEKNON infers a very young child, while PAIDION refers to a baby. In summary, two things are true about ‘little children’ believers. They are forgiven. And though they are young in the Lord, they know God the Father, just like a baby knows its father, yet not as he or she would later in life.

Spiritual young men have overcome the evil one. They manifest increasing victory over Satan, through the abiding Word of God. They are therefore strong in many of the virtues of the Christian faith. Increasing knowledge of God’s Word is a strong mark of spiritual growth (Heb.5: 12-14). The maturing Christians are strong in knowledge of the Bible. They know so much they can be dependable teachers.

Spiritual fathers are strong in the Word and growing in the fruit of the Spirit. But their outstanding mark is that although the little child “knows the Father” or who his/her father is, the spiritual father “knows Him who is from the beginning” (vv.13,14). This is never said of the spiritual child. Because the spiritually mature knows scripture, he is able to know God the Father deeper and more intimately. Seeking intellectual knowledge of scripture and not a deep relationship with God will not make one mature. That’s merely knowing about scripture but not the One who wrote it! God is calling us to increasing revelation knowledge in His Word and deeper intimacy with Him, for Overcoming in Life!