It’s often best to go easy on others. When people are broken, beaten down, and feeling crushed beneath life’s load, the last thing they need is a verbal rebuke. On those occasions, a gentle touch of compassion holds them together. Other times, it’s necessary to lay aside the diplomacy and go for the jugular. Most of us can remember a time when the last thing we needed was sweet talk—what we needed was a swift kick in the pants. In the first two chapters, John was kind and gracious with his readers. Then, however, John got down to brass tacks. After readdressing his readers, he drove home a warning that is so strong, it’s impossible to miss his point. It is remarkable how pertinent and penetrating his comments on the cosmos are to this day. To all Christians: this is no time to dream and drift—listen up!

1 John 2:12-17

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