[1 John Series] I Was There! Sample

I was there!

Have you ever seen or used virtual reality goggles with your cell phone? With the right app you can ride a rollercoaster or go to Hawaii through virtual reality. When you look up, it looks up. When you look to the right, it looks to the right. When you look to the left, it looks to the left. Down, it looks down.

It’s really fun to watch when people put these on because they’re like, “Let me touch something. Wow. This is incredible. This is amazing.” The technology is just going to go further, and it is going to look more real. But even though they are called virtual reality goggles, that’s not really reality. 

Sometimes you put on your spiritual virtual reality religious goggles, and you only look right when your pastor or your reading plan talks about looking right, and you only look left when you’re told about looking left, and you only look up when the right song comes on, and you only look down when you’re trying to get through something. If you can relate to this, you may be living in virtual religious reality.

What God really wants is for you to have a real relationship with Jesus so you can say, “I’ve seen Him by faith. I’ve heard His voice through His Word and through His people. I’ve been touched by Him in the depths of who I am. And I have a heart that can say, ‘I was there.’”

If you just do a few nice religious things, go to a certain church, and behave as you are supposed to, it’s virtual reality. It’s not reality. When you’re walking around with virtual reality goggles you don’t see anybody else. When you move through reality, you begin to see everybody else in a totally different way and you are able to share the good news you are witness to.

Only when you can say as John, “I was there,” can you be a reliable witness to others. Nobody can tell you that it didn’t happen—because you saw it, you heard it, and you were touched and transformed by it. And that’s what we all want to say about our relationship with Jesus Christ. Salvation through Christ alone is reality. And then walking in the steps of Jesus Christ as He lives His life through you, touching and loving others—that’s reality.