Speak Truthfully

John is passionate about what is going on inside God’s children (see 1 John 4:1-6). He cares about the influences on our hearts and minds. He knows that a distortion of truth will negatively impact our love for one another because we are not fully experiencing the depths of God’s love for us. Doubt. Fear. Bitterness. Unforgiveness. Apathy. Neglect. These and other thoughts or feelings are not disconnected or unrelated issues. They are all matters of faith or belief. When John instructs his readers to ‘test the spirits’ he is calling them to a standard of belief. Not what but who they believe in!

This is evident in how spirits are tested. If a spirit or someone speaking under the influence of that spirit does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh, they are not from God. Christian faith is placed in a Person, not in a philosophy or mindset, or religious practice. Faith is more than spirituality. To believe in God is to believe in Jesus, God incarnate.