Curious

After I John 5:6-21

It is curious to me that

the one whom Jesus loved

completes his first letter

with a plea, almost a wail,

for the little children,

the dear children,

to keep themselves,

ourselves,

from idols. After

all that he says

in his letter, he ends

with a plea sounding

more like a warning,

keep yourselves from idols.

Curious, it is. He writes

of love and sin and

family and truth and

confidence and then

finishes with a warning

about idols.

So who needs this warning?

Who is the audience

for this letter, what city,

what church, what group

of the faithful?

And the answer is:

All of them

all of us

each one

me

Photograph by Matthew Ansley via Unsplash. Used with permission.