There's something almost childlike in First John. When you look at it and all of the black and white terms that are used, you think you're almost listening to a child. A child sees things as right or wrong, good or bad. The child sees God or the devil. And if they're a little older, the Spirit of Christ or antichrist, sin or righteousness, loving others or hating others. And it's no surprise that John would have, as one of his favourite words of address through this letter, “little children.”
A friend of mine a number of years ago gave me a book written by little children. It literally has their handwriting in it. They've even signed the letters they've written. It's titled Letters to God and children of all ages have written God their requests and you will hear the black and white that I referred to in the letters.
For example, Joyce writes, “Dear God, thank You for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.” Denise writes, “Dear God, if we come back as something, please don't let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate Jennifer Horton.” Peter writes, “Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this summer.” “Dear God,” writes Larry, “maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother.” And Nan writes, “Dear God, I bet it's very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it.” Nancy writes, “Dear God, I love you. How are you? Fine. I'm fine too. My mother has five girls and one boy. I am one of them.” And Darla (one of my favourites), writes, “Did you really mean ‘Do unto others as they do unto you?’ 'Cause if you did, I'm gonna fix my brother.”
Now, you know what's interesting? If I were to read this to a room full of children, there wouldn't be a laugh. It isn't meant to be funny. They really mean it. Let's face it: kids are kids. Denise hates Jennifer Horton and she's not afraid to say so. She wrote God about it. Peter doesn't want Dennis at the same summer camp that he's at. And Darla's gonna fix her brother. I remember as a kid thinking that. It isn't funny. It's amazing when we're little, there's no veneer. It's just all out there.
It's when we get sophisticated and grown up and phony and hypocritical that we bring in the veneer, even though we still hate Jennifer Horton. We still don't want Dennis around. We still haven't got things figured out with our brother. The problem is, as we grow older, life gets all about us. Big circle around the word “us.” It's all about me.
The lack of love toward one another is nothing short of appalling, men and women. How quick we are to criticize. How rapidly we look for the wrong. How rarely we use the words—as an adult to someone either in or outside our family—“I love you.” How rarely we show it.
It broke John's heart and here he is, an older man soon to die, and surprising as it is for those of you who are very young, as one grows older, we often see things better, more clearly. And John sees very clearly the lack of love in the body of Christ, so he writes a letter. We almost find ourselves saying, John, “You've already said this.” That's not the issue. The issue is: have you already done it? Or, when will you ever start doing it really regularly, consistently, without expecting something in return?
If you only knew, if I only knew, the pain in the lives of others, our patience and love would know no bounds. So John brings it up again. He's brought it up in chapter two. He brings it in chapter three, and chapter four. Verse seven, “Beloved, let us love one another.” And before the ink is dry, verse 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” And at the stroke of a pen, just before he's finished with that thought, he thinks of one more time in verse 12, “If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” Over and over and over, he repeats the command “love one another,” “love one another,” “love one another.”
You love her; you love him. Be sure you don't overlook loving her, loving that little one, loving the older one, loving the person whom you know very little about, letting the love go, letting it show. Let it go. In fact, the way he writes it, it's “keep on loving one another.”
