Going Beyond

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:8-9

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
1 John 2:29

Johns letters warn believers about the dangers of going "beyond" the teachings of the gospel.

In our day it is easy to see how people get caught up in the promises of going beyond Christianity. They hear about how it would be great to not only have Christianity but to also go beyond it and have a large family, or to have a career, or to have science.

Or to have good political views.

Do these pursuits which on occasion pretend to go beyond Christianity offer promises we really believe to be higher than the claims of Christ?

I wonder, if a person were to be gravely wounded in a traffic accident (to the point where someone had sent for a priest), would such a person in their final moments instead call out, "No! Send for a scientist! I want to hear about the amazing wonders of green energy!"

Perhaps we do not really believe these alternative pursuits offer us something as valuable as Christianity, but we lack the faith to believe the rewards offered to us from God are real.

In the absence of visible confirmation and esteem from our friends we turn ourselves like sheep gone astray down paths with obvious rewards and obvious comforts instead of being truly rewarded and truly comforted.