This is God’s commandment-believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23).

Stop.

John is talking to believers and he says God commands you believe? Don’t they already believe?

When we dig deeper (I pulled out a commentary), we understand this means believe and keep believing on the Name of Jesus Christ.

This is a believing in the sense of continually trusting and looking to Jesus.

This is a believing in the sense of knowing you’re not enough, not wise enough, not good enough, not you-name-it enough, but Jesus continually is.

We have to train ourselves to continually look to Him and not go back to our old ways of relying on ourselves, others, and this world to do for us what only Jesus can do.

God used Jeremiah (2:13) to explain that instead of going to Living Water, God’s people kept going to broken cisterns that would always run dry.

John records in His gospel what Jesus said about Living Water—

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)

So the Living Water is the Holy Spirit who resides in all believers; and as we train ourselves to rely on Him, to listen to Him, to heed His guidance, we will be satisfied by Living Water. We will know He abides in us by the Spirit whom Jesus has given us. (1 John 3:24)

The Holy Spirit inside of us will help us be satisfied with the peace, hope and joy that comes from listening to His voice.

The question is are you listening to His voice instead of all the other voices vying for our attention???

John explains we have many spirits vying for our attention and destruction and we have to learn to not believe these false spirits who promise satisfaction but only leave us empty.

Empty.
Unsatisfied.

But we want to be content and filled don’t we? But how?

The Apostle Paul wrote, “ Now godliness with contentment is great gain”. (I Tim 6:6)

Contentment.
We want that.
We all want that.

How true. Godliness with contentment.

“So, I’ll follow God and be content with where He leads and what He gives.”

But, that’s easier said than done for our flesh-filled wandering hearts who are constantly chasing satisfaction in so many things other than Christ.

So many desperately think it is just around the corner. It’s so easy to fall into this trap, only to be disappointed again and again.

“If I just get that job, get married, get a raise, buy a house, if I have a baby, if I lose some weight…”

“If I had a clean house, if I paint that room, get a new outfit, buy a cuter couch….”

“If I pay off this debt, if I had a different job, if we buy a bigger house…”

There is nothing sinful with these things, except when we look to them to satisfy us instead of God.

And then, when these things fail to satisfy, many who look for contentment in things other than God, begin to look for contentment and satisfaction in destructive ways. We begin listening to false spirits.

“If I take this drug, have this affair, get out of this marriage, change my gender, change my kid’s gender… “

And in looking for contentment in ungodly things, in ungodly ways, human hearts find only more discontent and more misery.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings God has given, we just can’t make them the source of our happiness.

And this mindset comes, as we ask God to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Over and over.

It’s not a one-time thing and Paul, himself, said this was something he learned to do.

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:11-13)

This is a hard thing but not an impossible thing. And as we LEARN to be content and satisfied in Christ, as we keep believing and allow the Lord to strengthen and remind us daily to look to Him first and foremost for our satisfaction, we will find the changing circumstances of this world affect us less and less.

We can lose things and not lose hope.

We can hope for things that don’t come and still have peace.

We can walk through fire and not smell like smoke as we keep our eyes on Jesus who, alone, brings blessings from hard things and beauty from ashes.

He is the One who satisfies. As we daily drink from the Living Water, we find our thirst for other things become less and less and we learn to be content.

And that is GREAT GAIN!

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Note – this is a continuation of my study of 1 John. Go to this page on Facebook or kimjaggers.com to see other posts on this wonderful book of the Bible.