I once mentioned the fact that a tulip once popped up in the middle of my back yard. It didn't belong there and there were no other tulips even close to where this one popped up. I do not even have this particular color of tulip yet there it grew in the middle of the hill in the back yard. I presume that it came from one of the squirrels that like to plant things here and there for winter storage. The tulip looked strange the yard so one time about four or so years ago, I moved the tulip to a spot in my little flower garden near the house. I have two main email addresses and I receive about a hundred emails each day from the both of them combined that are advertisements. All of them are deleted. First, however, I go through the subject line of each of them looking for a personal email from one of my contacts. They are the tulips of my email and need to be moved to another folder. We live in an age of information in that we have more access to all kinds of information perhaps more than any other time in history, so far. I can pose any question to one of my browsers and have instant access to literally thousands of places that comment on the issue at hand. First John 3:22-23 says, “ And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
People have taught, wrote, and spoke on almost everything that you can think of but what are the important issues of life? What are those issues that have meaning or purpose in our lives today? The above passage refers to “His commandment” which is that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another. We quite often forget much of what we have learned in any given day but there are some things that you should never forget and this is one of the most important. A vast amount of knowledge of unimportant items will do you no good except perhaps being thought of as being smart in today's culture but the solution to achieving eternal life is the most important issue of all. The Scriptures remind us that we should be believing on His name. It is also important to notice what is not present in this passage yet seems to be present in the institutions of man due to his collection of information in this age. First of all, denominations are not even mentioned. Denominations have tried to get as close as they can to authenticity by coming up with a great name such as Catholic, Orthodox, Assembly of God, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and even the Church of Christ. God, however, has left that all behind and gets to the root of it all by stating: “Believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ.” People, however, seem to feel it necessary to come up with all kinds of strings attached to this simple statement. Many came up with “catechisms” that were used to educate the people about God and were held to be necessary in order to become a “member” of some particular local church. I refer many times back to two instances in the book of Acts; with the Ethiopian Eunuch and the jailer in Philippi. The only question that needed to be answered was, “Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?” What is most important in your life today? On what or on Whom are you depending for eternal life? One of the closing arguments for the Book of First John is found in 5:11-13. If you have the Son, you have life. If you don't have the Son, you don't have life. Verse thirteen then goes on to say, you can know for sure. Praise God today for salvation.
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