Continuing the Meditation on 1 John

1 John 2: 18-23 Secessionists

John warns us that deceivers will come. They leave the fellowship and return with teachings that do not build up but tear down, seeking to divide us from one another and weaken the body of Christ. But John reminds us we are not left helpless. We have the anointing of God. The Holy Spirit lives within us, and because the Spirit knows all things, we can see through the lies. Our safety is not in strong leaders or clever arguments but in abiding - abiding in Jesus, in the Father, and in the Spirit.

When I look at the Church today, I see the marks of two thousand years of deception. Forty-five thousand churches, split apart, sometimes violently. But I also see forty-five thousand churches that, in their own way, are still clinging to God. They hold on to something of what they heard at the beginning - that Jesus is Lord. Even if it looks like ashes, there is still a spark of the truth that was always there.

That is our hope. Not that the church has been free of deception, but that that the anointing still abides - what we have known from the beginning. The Spirit still guides. The truth has not been lost. Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus carries it, even if the divisions have blurred it.

So, the task is not to despair. The divisions are real, but they are not final. Our work is to let go of the lies that keep us apart, to see through deception, and to hold to the truth of Christ. In God’s time the Body will be whole again. The Spirit will help us 're–member' - not just recall, but bring back together, the Body of Christ. And once more, we will all abide in Him - whole.