1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love him, because he first loved us. 20If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
Don't Do it! You'll Come apart at the Seams
Wine Bursting From an Old Wineskin
Once I bought a queen-sized mattress online for my camper. It came in the mail through Amazon and when it arrived it was just a couple of feet long and a couple of feet wide. I wasn't even sure what it was until I opened the box. It was quite heavy. I carefully cut away the cardboard box and then the inner plastic package, and it quickly ballooned and expanded into a vast, firm mattress. It all happened quickly, and I'm just glad I was in a room large enough that nothing got knocked over by the expanding mattress. The challenge then came. How in the world could I compress this thing back down again to be small enough to get out of the house and into the camper door and put it up on the bunk where it was supposed to go? I tried to fold it. I attempted to compress it with a belt. I soon realized that the mattress could never be compressed enough to fit into the original package. That's like putting a new patch on old clothes or putting new fermenting wine into an old wine skin. It just won't fit. The wine will expand, and the old, stiff wine skin will break.
When you came to Christ, you were made a new creature (2 Cor 5:17). You now have the Holy Spirit residing within you, and no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to go comfortably back to your old life. Oh, you might flirt with going there and trying to fit in, but you can't fit into that package again. And you won't feel comfortable no matter how hard you try. The truth of the matter is that you are now in Jesus and He is within you. "13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." (1 John 4:13) You now belong in Him, and He dwells within you. That's a safe and secure place to be. It is so much better than what you came from, so relax and rest in that new relationship. You are in a very safe place. Thank the Lord today that He has made you a new creation, and today He dwells in you and you in Him. Ask Him to lead, guide, and direct you today in the way you should go. And ask yourself, "Why would I ever want to go back to where I came from?" That old lifestyle is just an "old wineskin" or an "old garment". You don't belong there anymore. If you try to fit into that old life, you’ll end up coming apart at the seams.