Weekend-spiration

This week in the online Bible Study that I do (from the website Good Morning Girls), we finished up with 1John chapter 2. One of the sections was from verses 18-19.

Dear children, this is the last hour, and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. this is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

There is so much to unpack with these two verses!

• First, it jumped out at me that John believed it was close to the "final hour." I'm thinking that is the second coming, but that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish. I think it's interesting that the final hour has been expected for so long, though. It reflects on Jesus's parable about the stewards. The master went away on a trip and the house managers were cautioned to stay alert and expect his return at any time because nobody knew when he would be back. John's attitude puts the words into practice.
• Second, I noticed that the fact that there were antichrists indicated the last hour. To clarify, an antichrist, the way John is describing it, is an adversary of Christ. So many people raising themselves to exalted positions, then as well as now, hint at the completion of our task, but alert us to stay wary.
• Third, wariness is all the more important because the very people speaking alternative salvation messages were part of the early church. How easily they must have caused people to stray from the truth. But then it happens all around us today as well. Messages that people want to hear, like health, wealth, and happiness for the rest of your life, tickles ears and distracts believers and would-be believers from the realities of following Christ. 

I get from these verses that I need to be on my guard, immersed in the scriptures so I can weigh the messages I hear to the truth that I know.

But I also get something else from this. I need to be on my guard that I'm not the problem. It's so easy to be  certain that I've got the answers. So my prayer is that I am never so sure, so right, that my eyes become blinded to the truth. 

What lessons did you learn this week, either from scripture or just from your interactions with different people?