Ostrich?

        Every now and then, I get an answer right on Jeopardy. I guess it is just pure luck but in some cases, I actually know what they are talking about in the question. The other night they asked about the piece of music that is played before an opera and the answer was, “overture.” I knew that because I played a lot of them during my lifetime. Some of them were actually played before the opera performance. Some have said that if the media was quarantined, 80% of the world's problems would disappear. That would be true for us because if you don't know about them, they are not your problems. We could be like the proverbial ostrich that stuck his head in the sand and therefore didn't know what was going on around him. Knowledge can be both good and bad. For the believer, all knowledge must be sifted through the Word of God to ascertain that which is good and that which is bad. It is obvious that there are some things in life that we need to “know.” The word itself is used several hundred times in the Bible and 27 times just in the book of First John. When a person really wants to know if they are going to heaven, then they need to take the “knowledge” test that are located in the first epistle of John. First John 5:13 says, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

        You can trace the word "know" in this little epistle and locate at least sixteen tests for the believer that will give him or her assurance about their salvation. The verse listed above can be both a summary verse for the book and certainly a summary to the statement given in verses eleven and twelve. If you have the Son, then you have life. If you don't have the Son, then you don't have life. Then the above passage comes into play in your knowledge. Those things were written that you might know that you have eternal life. It says so, right in the verse. Belief is critical in this passage and your salvation depends upon it. Just reflect for a moment on the life of the Philippian Jailer and his question to Paul and Paul's response to him in Act1 16:31. "...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved..." Knowing the name of the type of song used before an opera is really not that important but knowing if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is vitally important. You can have the most knowledge in the whole world and still miss heaven by a country mile if you don't have Christ as your Savior. All through my life I have come across people who say that you cannot know for certain if you are going to heaven. Well, that's not what this passage says. Usually the person who make the statement that you can't know is one who has never truly believed and that is the big difference. You may know a lot of things and you may have learned about a lot of things, but do you know you are going to spend eternity in heaven? John says you can know. Praise God for His message of hope for each and every person. It is there for those who "believe."