While we were at the end of the year 2021, my wife and I were asked, “What are you excited about in the year 2022?” With a tired voice, we responded, “Some normalcy please.” Since the pandemic, the unprecedented virus has disrupted the normal life we once experienced. It has been almost two years since this pandemic began, and a lot of us have forgotten what normalcy feels like.
Some people relate the term “normalcy” to their home. Many, however, do have negative associations related to the word “home.” Keeping these complexities in mind, if I would ask us to picture an ideal home for ourselves, I strongly believe that there would be some kind of calm.
Probably, it is the normalcy that we are all longing for. While drawing a picture of an ideal home for myself, I came up with a collection of words. The list includes security, cheerful, respected, loved, cared for, not being judged, rest, tasty food, endless sports, comfortable clothes, meaningful conversations and much more.
John expounded the theology of love in his letter. He talks about God lavishing love on His children, and he summons his audience to inculcate a culture of love.
Further, John states his purpose for writing this letter in 1 John 1:3; it is an invitation to fellowship with the Godhead. This invitation to fellowship with the Divine is the imagery of God pursuing humanity to have fellowship with Him. It is impossible to imagine a better home than constant fellowship with God since perfect love is found in such fellowship.
So, let us meditate on a couple of traits of God’s home;
A Home where Truth Prevails (vs.19)
In this passage, John uses the word “Truth” as a marker to explain the manner in which one belongs to God. This demarcates the foundational aspect of a believer’s relationship with God. What does it mean to belong to the “Truth”?
The root understanding of the Greek word for Truth, “Aletheia” is fascinating. It means “non-concealment”. A matter or a state of affairs seen in its non-concealed sense. There is purity, there is no falsehood about it, there is no hiddenness about it.
We live in a sinful world where Truth is corrupted and distorted. A deconstruction of the acquired knowledge seems to be the order of the day because trust is decaying on account of repeated reports of abuse.
We live in an age where facts are at our fingertips and knowledge is accessible easily more than ever, but we still find ourselves far behind the Truth. For instance, the common individual struggles to know the pandemic’s truth amidst the multiple conspiracy theories, agendas, economic mascot drives etc. God’s home is the home of truth where there is no room for falsehood, impurity, or hiddenness.
A Place of Rest for a Troubled Conscience (Vs.21-23)
The Bible in 1 John 3:21-23 says, “Dear friends, if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask”.
The term “heart” is mostly used here in the sense of “conscience”, the centre of man’s responsible being. During this pandemic, many of us are burnt out due to the responsive nature of work that surrounds us. It is difficult to consistently celebrate life as they are disrupted by multiple versions of chaos that surround us.
Being responsible toward others is innate in us, and everyone finds themselves in a position of responsibility toward others, whether specific or general. John reminds us of that by saying that God is greater than our conscience.
Does our sense of fulfilment and joy come from our work and fulfilling responsibilities? In such a case, our joy is limited and our fulfilment is temporary. We need to realize that God calls us to rest our consciences in His presence. When we rest in His presence, we can find eternal joy and eternal fulfilment.
Photo by Paul Szewczyk on Unsplash
