63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes.
80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes.
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
Fatherlessness in the US today is a problem. Mankind longs to know that the universe is not merely a heartless, impersonal machine. The Bible teaches: behind all of creation is a Father with a Father's heart who is good at orchestrating our lives if we let Him.
In today's devotional we come to 1 John 2:24-25 which reads, "24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life."
These two verses help us to know the process that is involved in the Believer experiencing the life that the Lord Jesus died to give us -- ETERNAL LIFE. The first step involved in this process is found in 1 John 2:14 "... see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you."
"... see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you." This word "remains" in v.24, literally, means "to possess you." Recently, Debbie and I had some friends from Ohio come to visit us. Since there was going to be some time when they would be in our house without us, we said to them, "make yourselves at home." This is the idea that John is communicating with us. As our friends inhabited our house, John is telling us to let the truth inhabit, dwell in, and abide in us.
Notice the second step involved in this process. It is seen in v.24, as well. "If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father." This means that when the truth inhabits and possesses you, then the Son and the Father will possess you. This is the same thing that the Lord Jesus told His disciples in John 14:21 which reads, "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
The result of this abiding and remaining and inhabiting is zoe, which is ETERNAL LIFE. Life that has the touch of eternity on it. This eternal life is the daily adventure of experiencing God's leading IN OUR LIVES. It is the discovery of the definitions of God in every opportunity. When we poise ourselves to be defined by God, life becomes an adventure.
This is illustrated by a story which goes back to February of 1982. I was only four months old in my faith. A friend asked if I had planned to go to a youth conference which was taking place in Brunswick, Georgia. I said, "I didn't even know of the conference." After being informed of the conference, I agreed to go. When we arrived at the conference, we learned that there were no more beds for us, so we got a room at the local Ramada Inn. After getting into our room, instead of going to the conference, we went into the bar at the Hotel where we passed out gospel tracts. To make a long story short, at about 3:30am, the lead singer of the band that was playing in that bar trusted Christ as her Savior. I will never forget the words that she spoke to me that night. She said, "I have been praying that God would send someone to me to help me." Wow, of all the people God could have sent, He sent me and my friend.
Zoe or "ETERNAL LIFE" is to be experienced now with God defining our lives. We will be defined by God when we abide, remain, and inhabit in our relationship with Him. And, as a result, He will abide, remain, and inhabit in us. That is zoe. And that is living this life with a Father who best defines us.
God has given us two tools to help in this process: 1) His Word, 2) His Spirit. And now, ABIDE in the Father's love. There is no greater definer of our lives than He.
