but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, to walk just as He walked.
1 JOHN 2:5-6
This passage clearly delineated a choice. The choice is one of witness. Do we choose to be a witness to the truth of the sovereign victory of Jesus or do we choose to bear witness to his failure to control reality? It may seem like a broad reach of a choice, but the choice is that stark because of the nature of who Christ is and what he offers. When we act the opposite of him, we are saying he had no transformative power in our lives. This is not the gospel message. The gospel is pervasive. Salvation wages war to the ends of our kingdom so that it may free all of ourselves to live in God’s reign. To leave a small camp of rebels behind is to stunt the victory of the gospel in our lives. Discipleship is by definition conformity. We cannot claim to be disciples without a master. Christ doesn’t free us to wander into our own lusts. Instead, the gospel message is that he saves us from our lusts to bring us into a meaningful and loving relationship with him. Anything less is a lie about him.
JOSH McGARY. COM 