Shifted
If you knew you could get anything you asked for, what would it be?
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal. We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. - 1 John 5:13-20(21)
John begins by telling us that we can ask for anything because we are believers in Christ, and he will grant it to us. But then, he seems to make an exception.
I think he does it to shift our attention from our desire and wants to the needs of others.
The one thing we may not have granted is for God to forgive a mortal sin of another whom we pray for.
Hmm.
Like a child who is told not to take a cookie from the cookie jar, or Adam and Eve told to avoid the tree, we are drawn to what we hear we should not have.
The focus has shifted.
We stop thinking about all the things we might want for ourselves, and think about asking for something we cannot have. In the process, we find that we think about our own sins and wonder if we have done something that may never be forgiven.
John's approach is a clever one, because he manages to have us think of ourselves differently. Instead of focusing on material things we might want, we are thinking of our own salvation, with a focus on the spiritual.
So, we come away wanting to help others by praying for them, and wanting to avoid making serious mistakes in our own lives, mistakes that could have permanent consequences.
More to come...