How can you tell if you truly believe something, rather than just saying you believe? Well, if you truly believe the construction company did a good job at building the bridge, you drive your car across it. If you trust the architect and engineer you walk into the skyscraper. If you believe the diagnosis of a broken arm, you let them put it in a cast. You buy food where you do because you believe they aren’t trying to poison you. You drive your car on the highway because you believe the other drivers aren’t trying to kill you.
We believe certain things and then our actions back up that belief. If we didn’t believe the contractor knew what they were doing, you wouldn’t drive on the bridge. You wouldn’t enter the skyscraper. You would be walking around with a broken arm. You would be growing all your own food. You would sell your car because it is falling apart in your garage due to lack of use.
Faith always leads to action. But John tells us something more. He says that we can know Him, not just believe in him. We can know Him intimately, as well as we know anyone else. It is more than knowing about Him. It is more than memorizing facts. This is a personal, intimate connection with another being. We can know Him in this way.
This relationship is described by Jesus as a friendship. He calls His disciples friends. But it is more than friends, even very close friends. The Holy Spirit comes and connects with us when we believe. He fills us and enables us to do His will. That is how John can say that we can know that we know Him. And when we know Him we do what He says.
Notice John’s repeated theme: if you don’t do ____, you are a liar and you don’t have the truth. Here John says that if we claim to know Him in this close personal connection kind of way, but don’t do what He says, we are a liar. No grey area here. On or off. Zero or one. There aren’t even any exceptions, no loopholes. John is straight forward leaving no wiggle room. Obedience must follow knowing Him. No obedience, no knowledge.
But we can also see obedience in other people and can draw a tentative conclusion about their connection to Jesus. Obedience is a signal. It is like the “occupied” sign on an aircraft bathroom. If it is lit, someone is present. If it isn’t lit, no one is present, or at least no one has locked the door.
So it is with us. If the Holy Spirit is present in our lives then obedience will be the signal that we can see. We can know the Holy Spirit is present when we see the obedience. Obedience is the sign that is lit letting us know our room is occupied with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Notice that we are talking about commands here, not suggestions or good ideas. We aren’t talking about trivial issues like outward dress or any particular cultural preferences. Commands transcend cultures and times. And we do sometimes differ about some of the particulars. Are we doing the biggies? Or are the trivial differences keeping you from obeying the biggies? If we agree on 90%, we ought be to doing the 90%, not waiting until we get 100% clarity. So let’s get busy obeying.
The Arnold Journey 