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"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." (Psalm 56:3)

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." (1 John 2:1)

The apostle John is writing most likely to the believers in Ephesus. In chapter 1 he introduced Jesus, fellowship with our Father and the Son, and walking in the light. Walking in the light implied being honest with ourselves, God and each other about our sin, from which true fellowship with others would happen, and we would be purified from all our sin.

"The Greeks [the Greek philosophers] had taught that the very purpose of philosophy was to help us face suffering and death. On this basis writers such as Cyprian, Ambrose, and later Augustine made the case that Christians died and suffered better - and this was empirical, visible evidence that Christianity was "the supreme philosophy."
Timothy Keller, "Walking with God through pain and suffering"

It is Christ's obedience, unto death, which has justified us, through whom alone we have been declared righteous before God. We have died with him to our old self, the old me in my sin under guilt has been already judged, the person I was before I knew Christ. So the guilt for our sin was put on Christ our human representative, and it was judged on Jesus on the cross.

As Jesus was teaching in parables he exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who loved money, and didn't pay attention to the teaching of the Law and Prophets on loving their neighbors, and the poor in particular.

The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection. Jesus became a man, a human being to represent us before God.

"He [God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality [from God], he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth [of the gospel], but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." (Romans 2:6-8)

By nature, by birth the air we breathe is self, self-preoccupied narcissism. Our culture breeds and breathes self: self-glory, self-worship, self-seeking, self, self, self!

I must share something of William Cowper, an Evangelical poet in 1700s, and a very good friend of John Newton, an x-slave trader who wrote the wonderful and well known hymn "Amazing Grace".

William suffered greatly from melancholy, depression, and many doubts in his Christian life. And he even attempted suicide about three times, but was found and rescued.

And as for the movie Lucy...

We humans like mental progress. We like technological advancement. We like a better us, physically, in outward beauty and abilities. And since we're on earth we are certainly farther along in all of these things, whether we believe it's six thousand or six billion years as humans in the world. In the movie, Lucy has reached her 100% potential of using her brain, and I guess that made her a goddess. ;)

Obedience to God is the outward expression of the inward reality, faith in Jesus Christ.

Obedience without faith is self-righteousness.

Faith without obedience is self-deception.

Faith and obedience are inseparable, like husband and wife. Not perfect, but complementing each other.

When I speak of our faith in Jesus Christ, I mean it's a justifying faith. Faith that justifies a sinner. Faith which receives "the free gift of righteousness", the perfect righteousness of Jesus credited or given to us, simply through the chanel of faith, or trust.