Your life will indeed impact the lives of others, your life will make a difference, but not all lives have a positive impact, not all lives sow seeds of goodwill or produce a harvest of positive outcomes. Hitler’s life mattered, but most believe the world would have been a better place if he had never been born. There is no question that our life matters, the only question is what kind of life we will live and what kind of legacy we will leave behind.
John is very clear about his motives. Eight times in this epistle John says “I write” or “I have written.” For example, in chapter 2 verse 1, he says, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In chapter 5 verse 13, he says, “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.” In our text, four times he says, “I write to you … because” and two more times he says, “I have written to you … because.”
