Got to Get (and Keep) You Into My Life

By Edd Sterchi
    You may recognize the title (without the parenthesis) as a song recorded by the Beatles and, later, by Earth, Wind, and Fire. But this thought (with the parenthesis statement added by me) depicts perfectly how we can overcome the world.    In light of this, consider 1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” This is reminding us that if we get (and keep) Jesus Christ into our lives, then we will overcome Satan and the ways of the world.    In the book of 1 John, this whole process is spelled out. Jesus became the sin offering for us (1 John 2:1-2). We get Jesus into our lives through a proper baptism (1 John 5:8). It is then that we are born of God and become His children (1 John 3:1). We keep Jesus in our lives through loving His word (1 John 2:5) and through faithful living (1 John 1:5-7). In fully doing this, we also keep ourselves from loving the world and the world’s ways which are influenced by Satan (1 John 2:15-17).    In the words of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (who wrote the original song): “Ooh, then I suddenly see you - Ooh, did I tell you that I need you - Every single day of my life?” Do you truly have Jesus fully in your daily life?

- Edd Sterchi preaches for the Broadway Church of Christ in Campbellsville, KY. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.broadwaychurchofchrist.net/