He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. - 1 John 5:12 NKJV.

In Soldier Township, Kansas firefighters responded to a 911 call from a woman who had attempted suicide. Upon arrival the emergency responders took one look at the woman’s head wound and thought she was dead. However, while the firefighters were still outside the residence the woman regained consciousness and again called 911. She was hospitalized and is in fair condition.

Obviously you cannot always tell by looking at someone whether they are dead or alive. To determine life we would do what? Most likely we would check to see if the person is breathing and if they have a pulse. Even if those signs are absent we might still perform CPR if the skin was warm or if we knew from witnesses that they had been alive a short time before.

Spiritually there are some signs of life as well. Just looking at a person it is difficult to know whether they are alive spiritually or not. Sometimes people do not even know themselves whether or not they are alive spiritually. Apparently that was part of the reason the Holy Spirit moved the apostle John to write the little letter of 1 John.

How do we know whether or not we have been born again spiritually and have the Holy Spirit living within us? There are some outward things which might lead a person to believe they are alive spiritually. Praying to receive Christ as our Savior, following the Lord in baptism, and church membership are some physical signs which we sometimes depend upon for identifying spiritual life. However, some who pray to receive Christ, are baptized, and become church members have later said that they were not really alive spiritually.

Here are some signs of life from the apostle John:

1 John 2:3-5: We have a desire to keep God’s commandments.

1 John 2:9-10: We have a love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

1 John 2:15-16: We love God more than we love the things of this world.

1 John 2:6: We walk as He walked. Act as He would act.

1 John 2:19: We continue assembling with other believers.

1 John 3:20-21; 4:13; 5:10: We have the witness of His Spirit within us that we belong to Him and our hearts do not condemn us.

What about you? Do you have any signs of life?