Believe in the Son1Everyone who truly believes that Jesus is the Christ, God's Son, has received the birth that comes from God. He is your Father. So if you love Him, you will love His children as well.2How can you tell for sure that you love God's children? Because you love God, you obey His command to love others.3The only way to express true love for God is to be obedient to what He has told you to do. If you really love Him, those commands are not a burden to you.4Everyone who has received the new birth that God gives overcomes the spirit that influences the world around him. It is our faith in Jesus and what He has done that gives us victory over worldliness.5I ask you, "Who has really overcome this worldliness?" Obviously only he who believes and trusts in Jesus as God's victorious Son.6He is the One who came as a Man into the world, completely identified with our need in the water of baptism and shed His blood for us; Jesus Christ, God's sacrifice! He not only shared our humanity; He shed His blood for us. God's own Spirit testifies to this and He is certainly the Spirit of Truth.7-8There is common agreement between the Spirit, the water and the blood. All three are in agreement and bear witness to the truth.9We readily accept what others tell us. Should we not all the more readily accept what God says, for His testimony is far greater than that of any man. And God has given us this revelation about His Son.10So the one who believes in Jesus as God's Son believes in his heart what God Himself has revealed. But anyone who does not believe what God says calls Him a liar. Such a person only does this because he or she has refused to believe what God has revealed about His Son.11What is this testimony that God has given us? Simply this: that God has given us eternal life and this life can only be received through Jesus, His Son.12So he who belongs to Jesus has this life; but he who does not belong to Jesus does not have this life.13I write these things to you because you do believe who Jesus is and what He has done for you; and so I give you this assurance, that you possess His eternal life.14So you can have great confidence when you come before God in prayer. You can be sure that if you ask anything according to His revealed will, He certainly hears you.15And if you are confident that He hears what you say, no matter what you ask, you can be sure that you have whatever you have asked of Him!Look out for one another16If you should ever see a fellow believer commit a sin that does not lead to spiritual death, you should pray for him, asking God to forgive him and restore him to His way. I am speaking of those sins that do not lead to spiritual death. Yes, there is a sin that leads to death and I am not saying you should pray about that.17Whatever is not God's will is sinful, and there are plenty of other sins that do not lead to such dire consequences.Worship only Him18We can be sure that anyone who has received the birth that God gives does not continue to sin and so grieve God. He lives in God's Son who keeps him safe from the power of the evil one so that he cannot be harmed.19We are certain that we are God's children, even though the rest of the world is under the control of the evil one.20We are also sure that God's Son has come and has revealed Himself to us so that we can know and understand Him, the One who is the truth. Yes, we continue to live in Him who is the truth: Jesus Christ, God's Son. He is both true God and Eternal Life.21So, dear children, keep yourself from the worship of anyone or anything else. Worship only Him!
Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)