Living in Light, Love, and Truth: Living with Truth and Love

Text: 2 John

Big Idea: Guard against deception by holding on to the truth with love

Have you ever been burned by a fake review?

You plan a little weekend getaway. You find a charming bed-and-breakfast online—dozens of glowing five-star reviews: “Best night’s sleep ever!” “The owner is like family!” “We cried when we had to leave!” The pictures look wonderful, the price is right, so you book it.

Friday evening you pull up, step inside, and immediately smell mildew. The walls are paper-thin, so you listen to the couple next door argue until midnight. The “gourmet breakfast” turns out to be two stale bagels and a half-empty tub of cream cheese. You check the reviews again and realize they’re all fake—posted by friends, relatives, or maybe even AI. With 16–40% of online reviews being fake these days, it’s easy to get duped.

Annoying? Absolutely. But the kind of deception John writes about in his letters is far worse, because the stakes aren’t a disappointing hotel stay—they’re eternal.

A Series About Remaining in What’s True

In this series, Living in Light, Love, and Truth, we’re exploring the deep concern the New Testament—and especially the apostle John—has about truth and false teaching. The early church faced many religious-sounding messages that misused Scripture and subtly lured people away from Jesus. That danger hasn’t disappeared. If we want to be a church that shines the light of Christ, we must be confident in the truth and committed to walking in love.

We are light in the world when we remain in the truth and walk in love.

The Situation Behind 2 John

In 1 John, we saw that false teachers were offering “fake reviews” of Jesus—claiming He was a good teacher but not God, or that He only appeared human, or that “the Christ” left Him before the crucifixion. John calls such teachers deceivers and antichrists.

2 John builds on this. Whether it served as a cover letter to 1 John or as a response to a specific report, the purpose is clear: warn the church (“the chosen lady and her children”) about persuasive traveling teachers denying the incarnation of Jesus.

John answers this threat by reminding believers to cling to two things that must always stay together: truth and love.

Walking Through 2 John

1. The Joy of Walking in the Truth (vv. 1–4)

John begins by expressing genuine affection for this church family—he loves them “in the truth,” and so do all who know the truth. For John, truth is not mere information; it is a way of life grounded in God’s revelation through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This truth abides in us and shapes how we live.

His greatest joy? Hearing that some of this church’s members are “walking in the truth.” They aren’t just claiming to follow Jesus—they truly are.

A healthy church is marked by people who live out what they say they believe.

That is my prayer for Bethlehem.

2. Keep Walking in Love (vv. 5–6)

Just as in 1 John, the apostle reminds them of the old command to love one another. Love, in Scripture, is defined not merely as affection but as obedience—doing what God commands. True love gives life to others.

And truth and love are inseparable.

• Truth without love becomes harsh legalism.
• Love without truth becomes sentimental compromise.

Real Christian community requires both grace and guidance, compassion and conviction.

3. Watch Out for Deceivers (vv. 7–9)

John identifies the central false teaching: denying that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. The incarnation—God becoming fully human in Jesus—is essential to salvation, redemption, and God’s purpose in the world.

To deny this is to step into the spirit of antichrist.

John urges the church to watch themselves so they don’t lose what faithful believers have worked for. Our task is not to invent a new foundation but to remain in the apostolic gospel:

Jesus, the Son of God, took on human flesh to rescue us from sin, Satan, and death.

Stay true to that truth.

4. Do Not Receive False Teachers (vv. 10–11)

John gives a strong instruction: don’t welcome or encourage anyone denying the incarnation. In that culture, hospitality meant support and partnership. To offer lodging or blessing to a false teacher was to participate in their deception.

This wasn’t unloving—it was love.

• Love for God (because false teachers misrepresent His Son).
• Love for people (because false teaching destroys lives).

While our situation today is different, the principle remains:

Be careful who you platform, quote, or trust in spiritual matters.

5. A Warm Conclusion (vv. 12–13)

John hopes to speak face-to-face soon. Truth matters deeply, but so do relationships. Christian faithfulness is always a combination of both.

Conclusion: Truth and Love Keep Us Steady

John gives the church two positive commands and one strong warning:

1. Hold tightly to the truth about Jesus—fully God, fully man.

2. Love God by loving each other well.

3. Do not give your support or attention to those who deny the truth about Christ.

Our world overflows with spiritual counterfeits—ideas that almost sound Christian, but subtly pull us away from Jesus. The best defense is not suspicion, but devotion. Truth steadies us. Love strengthens us. Together they form a life—and a community—that shines with the light of King Jesus.

A Challenge for Reflection

Ask yourself:

• Am I walking in truth? (Does my daily life match what I believe?) 
• Am I walking in love? (Do I show patience, kindness, and forgiveness?) 
• Am I careful about the voices I listen to and share?

Self-evaluation is a key part of discipleship. It shows us where we need to grow and how we can pray.

May we be a people who hold tightly to truth, walk boldly in love, and shine with the light of King Jesus.If you want, I can also create a Facebook post, a pull-quote graphic, or a shorter “reflection” version for readers who skim.

Paul’s Ponderings is a blog dedicated to reflecting on Scripture and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and purpose.

Living in Light, Love, and Truth: Living with Eternal Life

1 John 5:13–21

If you pull out a dollar bill, you’ll see four familiar words printed on the back: “In God We Trust.” It’s our national motto. We print it on our money. We claim it as part of our identity.

But according to the latest General Social Survey, those four words no longer describe the way most Americans actually live. When people were asked how confident they were that God really exists, only 50%—just half—said they believe in God without any doubts. Thirty years ago that number was 65%, and it’s been sliding ever since. Among young adults the shift is even more dramatic: only 36% now say they are certain God exists.

So we live in a country where our currency declares trust in God, but our culture increasingly doesn’t know whether God is even there. Doubt is growing. Fear is growing. Confusion is growing.

Which raises a deeper question: Where does real confidence come from?

According to the apostle John, confidence doesn’t come from slogans or cultural heritage. It certainly doesn’t come from our feelings. Confidence comes from a Person—Jesus—and what He has already done for us. In his final words of 1 John, John reminds the church what they can know with certainty. And these same truths anchor us today.

We Can Be Confident That We Have Eternal Life

(1 John 5:13–15)

John tells us exactly why he wrote this letter: “so that you may know that you have eternal life.” We don’t have to guess. We don’t have to wonder. We don’t have to live in spiritual uncertainty.

How can we know? John points to two essential realities:

1. Our faith in King Jesus, the unique Son of God.
2. Our love for God and for one another.

Faith and love aren’t abstract ideas—they’re evidence of new life. And because we belong to God, we also have confidence in prayer. When our allegiance is aligned with Jesus, our desires begin to reflect God’s desires. We pray according to His will, and John assures us: God hears us. As a Father, He gives what we need, even if it looks different than what we asked for.

Eternal life isn’t a future prize; it’s a present reality. And it brings confidence.

We Can Be Confident That Sin Is Evil—and That God Rescues Us From It

(1 John 5:16–19)

John turns next to one of the more challenging passages in his letter—praying for those caught in sin.

There are sins that lead to repentance, where guilt and sorrow eventually draw someone back to God. These we should pray for boldly. But John also acknowledges a deeper, more hardened rebellion—willful rejection of God, the kind embraced by the false teachers troubling the early church. Their hearts were closed to the Spirit. Prayer for them may not change their course.

Why is this important? Because confidence in God awakens seriousness about sin. Followers of Jesus don’t make sin a lifestyle. We confess our sins. We seek forgiveness. We fight against temptation because God’s love has taken hold of us.

John contrasts two spiritual realities:

1. We are God’s children, shaped by His love, Spirit, and Word.
2. The world lies under the influence of the evil one, shaped by the spirit of anti-Christ.

So we remain alert. Confident—but not careless.

We Can Be Confident About Jesus—The True God and Eternal Life

(1 John 5:20–21)

John closes with clarity: Jesus has given us the fullest revelation of God. The Old Testament gave glimpses of God through the law, but Jesus shows us God’s heart through love. And because of Him, we can have a genuine relationship with God—walking in love, faith, and loyalty to King Jesus.

This fuller knowledge of God leads to one final command:

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Idols aren’t just statues. They’re false ideas of God. Distorted pictures of Jesus. Voices that seduce our loyalty away from the King—just as the temples and false teachers tried to sway the early church.

Confidence in Jesus means refusing all competing allegiances.

Living With Eternal Life Today

John ends his letter like a loving spiritual father—reminding us what is true, what can be trusted, and how we should live. Our world may be confused about God, but we don’t need to be.

Following King Jesus gives us the confidence we need to live faithfully in this world.

And this kind of life—rooted in clarity, loyalty, and trust—is exactly what our world needs to see.

A Simple Challenge for This Week

Choose one concrete step of confidence:

• Pray boldly for someone who is struggling. 
• Confess a sin you’ve been tolerating.
• Silence a voice that is pulling you from the truth. 
• Open your Bible each morning and ask God to deepen your trust.

Live like someone who truly has eternal life—not someday, but now.

Final Thought

If you are in Christ, you are not meant to drift through life uncertain, anxious, or spiritually unstable. You are meant to stand firm, pray boldly, resist sin faithfully, love sincerely, and worship wholeheartedly. Reject every idol that competes for your allegiance.

Remain with Jesus. Trust Him. Follow Him.

And you will shine with a confidence this world has forgotten—but desperately needs to see.

Paul’s Ponderings is a blog dedicated to reflecting on Scripture and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and purpose.

Living in Light, Love, and Truth: Faith in King Jesus

Text: 1 John 5:1–12

We live in a world full of noise—voices telling us what to value, whom to fear, and how to live. And in the middle of all that cultural confusion, John reminds us of something essential: the confidence we need to love each other and to overcome the world comes from knowing Jesus is King.

A Voice You Can Trust

In March of 2022, CBS News told the story of Jacob Smith, a 15-year-old freeride skier who is legally blind. Jacob has extreme tunnel vision, no depth perception, and everything he does see is a blur. His visual acuity is 20/800—meaning he would need the big “E” from the eye chart blown up four times its size to see it from twenty feet away.

So how does a teenager who can barely see ski down steep, dangerous mountain faces?

He listens to a voice he trusts.

On competition days, Jacob’s little brother guides him to peaks so high the lifts won’t take you there. His father waits at the bottom, takes a deep breath, and begins talking Jacob down the mountain. Jacob keeps a radio turned up loud in his pocket, and as he starts downhill he does exactly what his father says. “Turn right. Slow down. Big drop coming. Stay left.”

When asked how much he trusts his dad, Jacob smiled and said, “Enough to turn right when he tells me to.”

Confidence comes from knowing the authority you’re responding to. When you trust the one giving the command, obedience isn’t burdensome—it becomes natural. Fear loses its power.

That’s the tone John sets in 1 John 5. His churches have been overwhelmed by competing voices, false teachings, and spiritual confusion. So he brings them back to the one truth that changes everything:

You know who your King is.

Jesus is not one more voice among many. He is the true King of the cosmos—our source of life, confidence, and victory.

A Church Formed by Love

The  Church John envisioned is: a people who remain in the truth and walk in love. Discipleship isn’t complicated. We receive God’s love, which empowers us to love God and love people, and then others experience God’s love through us. That’s how disciples are made. That’s how we bear witness to the reign of King Jesus.

The apostle John wrote his first letter to faith communities under his care that had been under attack and divided by false teaching. This teaching downplayed Jesus and sin while focusing on spiritual power and enlightenment. John wanted to remind them of Jesus’s true identity as the unique Divine Son of God, the King of the World, and that our job is to love God and to love people.

John has just finished teaching about love—that the true definition of love is not what the false teachers say it is, but God, specifically seen in the sacrifice of Jesus. God’s type of love is sacrificial. It is giving what we have so the other person can be blessed. Along with love we need faith. What does this faith look like?

The Faith We Need

1. Faith in Jesus Produces Obedience and Love (vv. 1–3)

John begins with a simple assumption: faith comes first. Believing that Jesus is the Christ—the King of the cosmos—is more than mental agreement. It requires loyalty. Faith makes us God’s children, giving us a new identity and new expectations.

And what does this new family do?

We love.

For John, love for God and love for God’s children are inseparable. Love is not merely a feeling or warm sentiment—it is action. We love God by keeping His commandments: forgiving, showing mercy, serving, helping, and seeing others with honor. These aren’t burdensome tasks. They are the natural way of life in God’s kingdom, empowered by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23).

To love well, we must (1) declare our faith in Jesus, (2) choose to love His people, and (3) ask God to empower us.

2. Faith in the King Overcomes the World (vv. 4–5)

John reminds us that every child of God “defeats this evil world.” Our victory does not come from withdrawing or fighting harder—it comes from being made new. New birth gives us a new identity and a new allegiance.

Faith is the means of victory. Left to ourselves, we fall prey to deception, fear, and the false promises of the age. But loyalty to King Jesus anchors us in truth. There is no alternative path to life. The world doesn’t need our cleverness; it needs rescue. And God has provided that rescue in Jesus.

3. God Himself Testifies That Life Is in His Son (vv. 6–12)

John draws our attention to God’s testimony about His Son. The “water and blood” point to Jesus’ baptism and His sacrificial death—bookends to His earthly ministry. The Spirit affirms this testimony: in Scripture, in the apostles’ teaching, and in the inner witness of God’s people.

Rejecting Jesus is not merely a disagreement; it is calling God a liar. But receiving the testimony leads to life—true life, the life of God Himself, present within us now through the Spirit.

John makes the point unmistakable:

If you have the Son, you have life.

If you do not have the Son, you do not have life.

Living in the Confidence of King Jesus

What is the Point?

John gives us clarity about faith:

• Faith leads to love and obedience. We can love in small ways because we’re made in God’s image, but to love consistently, sacrificially, and joyfully requires surrender to Jesus.
• Faith leads to victory over the world. Our allegiance to King Jesus defines our identity. His victory becomes our victory.
• Faith rests on God’s testimony. The Scriptures, the work of the Spirit, the history of the Church, and transformed lives all come together to assure us that Jesus is the true King.

Big Idea: The confidence we need to love each other and to overcome the world comes from knowing Jesus is King.

Living out God’s love is challenging. What if we get hurt? What if people take advantage of us? What if nothing seems to change?

Our courage does not come from outcomes—it comes from the truth that Jesus has already won. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension declare that the world’s power is broken. So we live like people who belong to a victorious King.

A Challenge 

In your prayers this week, ask God to empower you to love. Love is how we are known as God’s people. And we desperately need His help to love well.

Final Thought

Because Jesus is the King who has already overcome the world, we don’t love out of fear—we love out of confidence. Every act of forgiveness, every step of obedience, every moment we choose love over resentment declares to the world:

My King has already won.

Paul’s Ponderings is a blog dedicated to reflecting on Scripture and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and purpose.