1 John 5:13–21 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  Those who follow Jesus have this assurance, this confidence. While we continue to struggle with sin, we believe in the one who overcame sin’s power over us. We have eternal life as a gift from Him.

The problem is between now and the time we see Jesus face to face, whether that is our death or His return, we are in a world full of sin. “The whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

In my travels, I have been in places where I could feel and sense the power of the evil one. When I was in India, we visited a couple of Hindu temples where Satan’s grip was obvious. In Central America we saw ruins of places where they had practiced human sacrifices in order to try to appease false gods.

But the power of the devil is just as obvious in our society here in the USA. We are constantly being pressured to accept things that are clearly outside of God’s will. I understand that people have the right to do live outside of God’s control, but they do not have the right to demand that the church or Christians approve of them. And those who live that way will one day have to give an accounting of themselves before God Himself. Without faith in Jesus, they will be found wanting and be eternally condemned.

That is why we need to love others the way we have been loved. We want to open the door for them to join us in the certainty of the forgiveness and life and salvation that comes the Jesus Christ and only through Him.