Mind yourself

 

For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. – 2 John 7-8

 

It is sad to have to say that we must always be on guard. There are many deceivers out there who will try to destroy our faith and destroy our churches.

 

The first ones that we need to look after are ourselves. Why? Because is we don’t look out for ourselves, we can’t look out for others. It is kind of like the oxygen masks on a plane when they tell us that in case of an emergency we put on our own masks and then tend to our children or others who may need our help.

A common saying here among friends when departing is ‘mind yourself.’  It’s just a reminder to watch out for yourself and take good care of yourself.

 

We have a spiritual as well as a physical responsibility to do that. We must be ready to help others when they struggle, but we can’t do that unless we are minding ourselves first.

Love walk

 

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. - 2 John 6

 

There are plenty of descriptions about how God’s people are supposed to walk. Not least among them is this simple instruction to walk in love.

 

We can’t get away from them

 

People see our walk. We are often known by our own peculiar step or gait. I can tell my walking friends from far off by their walk.

 

Like that people ought to know us by our walks. My walk should be so full of love that everyone knows that I belong to Christ. A love walk removes any excuse for anger or bitterness of fighting or general ugliness. When people think of my walk their first thought needs to be that I am a man of love and that my love extends to all those around me.

 

Love ought to control how I work and play and treat my family and do my job and behave in public and what kind of citizen and neighbour I am in this current world.

 

It’s a daily question for us, how was my love walk today?

Getting through the day

 

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. – 2 John 2

 

Grace, mercy, and peace.

 

Wouldn’t life be lovely is those three words truly described our lives. They are all gifts from God given in truth and love.

 

How we long to live in God’s grace, by His mercy, and with peace in our hearts. It is a troublesome world. We all desire to live a quiet and peaceable life resting in God’s grace but so many things get in our way that the troubles of the world can overwhelm us.

 

God’s great grace abides in us in times of trouble. It anchors us to the Rock. By His day by day mercies we get through each day, they are new every morning. Jesus left a peace with us that cannot ever be taken away. We rest in His truth and we walk in His love.

 

This is the only way we an get through this old world, but the great thing is that we have a faithful God with a constant supply for us. We can rest in His grace and His mercy and His peace and His truth and in His love.

 

We need a daily dose of that every day,

Abiding truth

The Elder,

To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: - 2 John 1-2

 

John begins this second epistle, or mini-book, by calling himself the elder and addresses it to ‘the elect lady and her children. He tells these people that he loves then in truth, that they know the truth, and because they have a mutually abiding truth.

 

It’s the ‘truth that abides in us’ that grabs my attention here and I think the key words here are at the very end – ‘and will be with us forever.

 

I love this notion. Once God gives us the truth He does not take it back. It is with forever in every circumstance and in every situation. After all Jesus is the truth and He is never going to leave us.

 

Real truth gives us an anchor to cling on to. It gives us stability in a world that says there is no truth. Yet we have it and we need to fear ever leaving the truth that is in us.

 

As His truth abides in us, we need to constantly abide in Him.

Keep yourselves from idols

 

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

 

Here is a simple little sentence to finish the epistle. Little children, keep yourself for idols.

 

What does it mean for us to keep ourselves from idols?  Most of us do not have a god shelf in our sitting rooms. What are our idols then? How does this apply to us.

Though we may not have any idols that doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own kinds of idols. Our idols may not be stone statues. Our idols may be intangibles like popularity or fame of prestige. Our idols could be simply stuff. Our idols could be made of metals and plastics and screens and circuit board and electronics. Sometimes our idols can even me otherwise good things like families or children or friends.

 

But it is certain that we do have them.

Our idols are anything that get in between us and God. They can be intangibles like power and pride and prestige. They can be people or popularity. They can be homes and possessions and stuff in general. They can be entertainment or sports or gams or leisure activities. They can even be good things like family and friends. When any of these things become more of our focus than God they become our idols.

 

We can’t afford to be distracted by idols they on a god shelf or on our hearts or in our sitting rooms. We can tell if they are idols or not by how much time and attention we pay to them. Whichever gets our focus becomes our God.

Indeed, the warning to keep ourselves from idols is just as important as it ever has been.

An understanding

 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. - 1 John 5:20-21

 

If the whole world indeed in under the sway of the wicked one how do any of us come to know Christ as Saviour? How do we go from being under the sway of the wicked one to being of God? If we are under the sway of the wicked how do we possibly understand our need?

 

We can’t. Not on our own at least. But we have because God gives man a spirit of understanding as His Holy Spirit draws them to salvation. The word of God is clear that unless the spirit of God draws men they won’t turn to Him. When we seek Him He gives us a spirit of understanding.

 

The problem is not the fact that God gives understanding. God gives children all the need to be saved and He praises their simple faith and says that is the kind of faith that we need to have.

 

When God draws us He gives us the ability to grasp the truth. Without that we would be hopeless and helpless. Salvation is all of Him. 

Under the sway of the wicked one

 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. – 1 John 5.19

 

The whole world around us under the sway of the wicked one.

 

We are of God and the whole world is under the control of the wicked one. That’s pretty profound. That explains a lot.

 

That tells us why things are so amazingly wacky. It tells is why we don’t get the world and they don’t get us. We are indeed, in a sense, on two different planets. We are never going to be able to go back to our old life and without Christ they cannot join us.

 

That’s why we can’t be too harsh on the people around us. They are caught in his trap and held under his sway. They do what they do because that’s all they can do. Without Christ that’s all they are going to be able to do. We don’t war against them. 

According to His will

 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. – 1 John 5.14-15

 

We can read a lot about prayer. A lot of folks have the impression that if we want something bad enough and our faith is strong enough and we ask long enough when with enough fervency God is bound to do what we want.

 

That’s not his it works though. We don’t transform God’s will to ours. Why would we want to really? Who knows more? Who knows what is best?

 

When we pray we should always desire the will of God because we are trapped in time and space. We see this point in time and we see where we are right now and that is it.

God on the other hand sees the whole picture. He knows what is best not only for me right now and right here, but for everyone of all time. His will is what is best for us. He knows all of the ramifications.

 

So we pray for our needs and desires. We pray for others. We pray for healing and protection and we rejoice when we are in accord with His will. 

That you might know

 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. – 1 John 5.11-13

 

On the 12^th of February 1974 I was in the library basement at Widener College in Chester, Pennsylvania, the US.

 

I was there for a Bible study because I had found an invitation on the ground and picked it up to throw it in the bin. When I picked it up I saw that it was a notice to a Bible study in the basement of the college library.

 

A professor was leading a Bible study from 1 John 4. As I sat there I looked across the page and my eyes fell on this verse. I realized straight away that I did not know. I hadn’t really thought much about it, but as I sat there I knew that I didn’t know.

 

So I prayed. I believed but I did not know. So I believed in my heart and confessed with my mouth and I knew. I knew then and I know now that I have life in His name.

 

It is wonderful to remember the day that I met grace. As a result of that day and this promise I know one thing. I know that I have eternity in store and I know that in the meantime I have life in Him.

 

Thank God for knowledge like that. 

These three are one

 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. – 1 John 5.6-8

 

The Trinity is one of those great unknowns of scripture. It is impossible to really figure it out. How can three be one?

 

And yet there it is. The Trinity is clearly seen from the literal beginning.

 

Why is God a Triune God? As God surely He could do all that He does without three natures.

 

Of course, but I’m think there are a coup!e of reasons.

 

I think it is easier for us to understand God and the way He selflessness can see Him as a loving, heavenly Father, and as the Son of God who came to live and die for us, and as the indwelling Spirit living in us and being our comforter.

 

But I also see that God is a God in fellowship. He has fellowship with Himself. He created us for fellowship. We made us social beings to fellowship with each other.

 

The great Three in One. I think He is who He is to help us be what He wants us to be.  

Overcoming the world

 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? – 1 John 5.3-5

 

There was an old song that the enslaved people of the American south used to sing. Under the oppression of their enslavers they would do all they could to get through. Many of these people were people of great faith who were trusting God to deliver them from their chains. They sang a song called ‘We Shall Overcome' which became a theme song for so many oppressed people through the years.

 

We today are under oppression.  We are oppressed by the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world seems terribly strong. Some days it seems like, between the world, the flesh, and the devil it seems like the situation is impossible.

 

All those who are of God overcome the world. We already have overcome because we already have the final victory through Jesus Christ. We have accepted that victory by faith and it is that victory that allows us overcome the daily struggles of this world.

 

Not only will we over some someday, we have already over one the world. All we have to now is to be faithful until we see that victory manifested.

 

We have overcome. Let’s walk in victory. 

He who says

 

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. – 1 John 4.20-21

 

If anyone says that he loves God but hates His brother he is a liar.

 

This is a powerful statement that reminds me of the words of James when he wrote that we praise God with our mouths and at the same time curse our brethren. He says – these things ought not so to be.

 

If God loves us and God loves us and the love He loves us with cost Him His life and we are all in the same family how can we not love each other? 

 

God is love. He loved us. We didn’t deserve His love and yet He loved us. No one could possibly offend us like we offended God, and yet He still loved us. 

 

It is really sad that this even has to be said about our family members in the faith. Jesus gave His life for my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all going to heaven to live for eternity. We are equally saved. We all have a common goal and a common purpose.

 

We can’t afford to let hatred creep in. It we claim to love God and still hate one another we lie. We can’t do both. Love is in both of us so we should love each other

Because He first loved us

We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4.19

 

We can only love God because He first loved us. That only makes sense how can we possibly love God without Him loving us.

 

He loved us first and He loved us enough to send Jesus to die on the cross for us. He loved us before the foundation of the world and He planned to save us because He loved us. He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that if we believe in Him we can have eternal life.

 

The phrase ‘He first loved us’ may be one of the greatest expressions in all of scripture.  Because of sin we were and enmity with God – we were His enemies. We were dead in our trespasses and our sin. We were in a well deserved helpless state that we could do nothing about. We could not muster up some kind of love for God. Our sin kept us blind to God. We were hopeless and helpless.

 

But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that we, by believing we might have eternal life.

 

Now a relationship is restored. Now we can love the One who loved us. Now we can obey to love Him and love others.

 

Because He loved us we ought to love each other.

No fear in love

 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4.18

 

God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. We read that back in 2 Timothy. Fear and love are not compatible. You can’t have both in the same place.

 

There is a Majesty Music song that says ‘how can I fear, Jesus is near, He ever watches over me. Worries all cease, He gives me peace.’

 

If we truly accept that God loves us we are going to know that He knows what is best for us. If He loves us we trust Him because we rely on His love and we are not going to be afraid.

 

I guess it could be said that if I walk in fear I really don’t believe God loves me. At least that’s what it indicates.

 

Fear is not of God. It is especially not of God’s love. How indeed can I fear?  

Us in Him and He in us

 

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  – 1 John 4.15,16

 

I love this – I really do. When we are saved something happens. Jesus lives in us and we live in Him.

 

What a perfect symbiotic relationship. In our symbiotic relationship one part is obviously the benefactor. I am alive in Christ and He is alive in me. I receive all the blessings and benefits of the relationship.

 

What makes this all happen?

 

It’s the love of God. The love of God unites Him with us and us with each other He is in me and I am in Him and we are one the spirit in love. With that common love why is it that so often we can’t seem to get along?

 

In addition to that we have the amazing truth that as Christian we abide in Christ, and Christ abides in us. Think about that. God lives in us and we live in God. Not just with each other, but abiding in each other. How is that even possible? It's certainly not anything we can do.

 

It is all by the grace of God and because of His love.

 

I can face whatever comes my way, but not because of me, but because of what God has done for me.

God's love perfected

 

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. – 1 John 4.12

 

No one has seen God at any time.

Okay, clear enough.

 

How then are people going to see Him?

 

If we love each other God abides in us. His love is perfected in us, and as we love each other we show God to the world. What an awesome thought! We are the perfection of God’s love.

 

How do we know? Because love the world so much that He sent Jesus to go to cross to save us. When we got saved He perfected His love in us.

 

Now we have a responsibility to those around us. There need to see the perfection of God’s love manifested in and though us.

 

We are the only picture of God’s perfect love that some people will ever see. How are we showing that love to the world?

Let us love one another

 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. - 1 John 4:7-11

 

Here it is again, back to the basics.

 

Let us love one another.

 

Why do we have to be told this so often why does the Word of God in general and John in particular have to say it over and over and over again.

 

Maybe its because it is not natural. We are not inclined to love each other like we are inclined to love self. It is easy to love me.

 

Maybe it’s because Jesus said that the Law can be summed up with this – love God and love each other.

 

I don’t think we can it too much. I don’t think we can overdo. We love one another. It is how people know we follow Christ. It is how we show God to the world. We didn’t love God first – He loved us and sent Jesus to satisfy the sin debt that had to be paid. Mind blowing truth!

 

And what are we called on to do in response?

 

Love each other! How hard can that be? 

God manifested His love to us

 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. - 1 John 4:7-11

 

We never have to doubt God's love. He proved it in the most dramatic way possible. God manifested His love to us, even while we were still sinners. He manifested His love and He gave His son. He gave His son to shed His blood and that He would satisfy our sin debt by going to the cross for us.

 

There is no great love than that a man lay down his life for His friends.

 

And that is just how God showed His love for us. That’s how He manifested His love toward us.

 

Romans 5.8 puts it this way – ‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

 

While we were still in our sin. Even while our love for the world proved we were enemies of God he showed His love through the death of His Son.

 

Mind boggling – who dies for the enemy? Jesus did. How can we miss that? How can we neglect that? How can we not share that with the world?

Love is of God

 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. - 1 John 4:7-11

 

 

Let us love each other, brothers and sisters, because love is of God. Love is the mark of the children of God. If we are the children of God we will love.

 

God made love. When He made man His image he gave man the capacity to love. Even when man fell he still had some capacity to love.

 

But true Godlike love is something that He gives as  gift to His children. It is the trademark of a child of God. If one does not love it is evident he is not of God because God is love. We can’t have the God of love and not show love to others

 

That’s something to consider when Christians so full of hate and vitriol and anger. God’s people love, because their Father is the creator of love.

Of the world

 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. – 1 John 4.5

 

Sometimes we look in dismay and we wonder how the world can act the way it does. We are dismayed at the stuff going on around us. The way of the world is mind boggling.

 

The world seems to have totally lost the plot. The wackiness of the world leaves us gobsmacked and even more surprising is how many Christians go right along with the craziness.

 

How does that happen?

 

It happens because the world is the world and it can’t act any other way. We can’t fix the world and we can’t expect it to repair itself because it is still cursed and broken beyond repair.

 

There is only one hope. The only hope is for people to come to Christ one by one and have their hearts changed. People can be fixed, the world can’t.

 

The whole world is lost in the darkness of sin, the light of the world is Jesus. We have the hope that the world needs. It can’t fix itself. It needs Jesus. 

Greater is He that is in us

 

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. - 1 John 4.4

 

The world is troublesome and worse. It is powerful. It can be oppressive and crushing. It is under Satan’s thumb and he is doing all he can to destroy the work of God in this world.

 

The thing is, he can’t win!

 

For one thing Christ has already given us the victory. It’s a done deal. The battles may be tough but the victory is assured.

 

Because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.

 

When we feel overwhelmed and defeated and beaten we need to turn our eyes on Jesus. We need to remember that we abide in Him and He abides in us and He will never leave us or forsake us and He is greater than anything Satan and the world can throw at us.

 

We have already won and one day we are going to see the results of the great victory in Him who is in us.

Test the spirits

 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world – 1 John 4.1-3

 

There is always some new thing, even in the church. Somebody thinks they have discovered something nobody in the history of the church has never seen and they write a book about it start a podcast and get on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and they gets loads of likes and shares and pretty soon folks have spread the news without ever seeing how it compares to the word of God. Social media has made it easier to spread, but it has always been there.

 

If we are not careful we can easily be deceived. We need some way to check them out before we accept and adopt them.

 

The canon is the perfect standard. It is the plumb line to keep us straight. The standard is the word of God. It is the only place to  compare teachings to truth. Therefore, we must be like the Bereans searching the scriptures daily to see if what we hear is true.

 

Don’t just accept everything you hear. Test them, try them, examine them, pray, and compare them to the word of God. Its up to each and every one of us.

By His spirit

 

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.- 1 John 3.24

 

How do we know that God lives in us?

 

We accept it by faith, but we know that sometimes our faith can be weak. Sometimes we mess up and we condemn ourselves as not being good enough.

 

We can know that we know because of His Holy Spirit that dwells in us. He is our comforter and our assurer. We can know because He is the down payment of our eternal salvation. We know because everyone who is saved has the Holy Spirit. We know because He has sealed us for the day of salvation.

 

The Holy Spirit brings that voice of comfort when we are troubled. He is the One who attests to our heart that we are abiding in Christ. He does it through His word and sometimes through His still small voice within.  

 

God’s Spirit testifies with us that we are the sons of God. We are His and He will comfort us with that truth.

Pleasing in His sight

 

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. – 1 John 3.22-23

 

If we do what God wants us to do we live lives that are pleasing in His sight.

 

Isn’t that a wonderful thought, that we could do things that please God?

 

You know what it feels like when your actions and attitudes please the one’s you love? The truth is that we can do the same thing for God. We are His children. We belong to Him. We are in His family. He is not going to cast us off.

 

But do we please Him? Will my walk today please God? Or is the desire to please myself and please others greater than my desire to please God. Do I do things for God’s praise or for man’s praise?

 

Wouldn’t it be a great way to go to bed a night knowing that I had pleased God that day?

 

How do we do that?

 

We please Him by keeping His commandments.

 

What is the chiefest of these commandments?

 

That we love one another.

 

If that’s the test, are we pleasing Him?

When we condemn ourselves

 

And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. – 1 John 3.19-21

 

Sometimes our worst enemy in walking in Christian or lives will be us. Satan loves it when we beat ourselves us instead of walking in victory. Though  Christ has forgiven us but we still condemn ourselves.

 

Satan could not be happier when we do this. We cannot walk in victory if we condemn ourselves. We are useless because we are never able to encourage others if we condemn ourselves.

 

Some of that is self. We think that we can do something about our eternity and when we mess up we figure we must have really blown it.

 

Some of that is the world. The world mocks what we believe and flies in the face of our faith and we can begin to question if we have it right.

 

Some of that is the devil. He knows that if we doubt and we question and we condemn ourselves as not good enough we are pretty useless for God’s service.

 

But of we condemn ourselves God is greater than our hearts and He knows all things. Even when we doubt ourselves we can have confidence toward God because He is the One who is in control/ All we know is what we know – He knows the whole picture.

Our confidence should never be in us, but in Him.

In deed and truth

 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. – 1 John 3.18

 

Saying ‘I love you’ is a wonderful thing. But love is more that words. Love is manifested in our deeds and in the reality of how our love plays out.

Now it’s easy for us in our comfort to say ‘I would gladly die for my friend,’ and maybe we would be. How much love do we show though in our daily life by our actions with each other?

 

True love is only seen in what we do. It is seen in our deeds and our actions. It is seen preferring others about ourselves. It may well involve sacrifices in our part to show our love for others.

 

Let your love be seen.

 

How?

 

Like they say often it is the little things that matter. The big deeds can be easy because they are obvious. It’s the small acts of love that we can forget about. Its the church family rallying around when a new baby is born. Its middle of the night airports runs. It’s driving into Dublin traffic to get a friend to an appointment. It’s letting someone else have the last piece of pizza.

 

Let’s practice loving in the little ways, in deed and in truth. 

How we know love

 

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? – 1 John 3.16-17

 

What is the test for love? How do we know when love is real?

 

It’s a big test. Look at the example John uses – Jesus proved His love when He died on Calvary. There was no greater gift of love that He could have His love when He died on Calvary.

 

We may or may not be called on to literally give our lives for one another. The day may one day come when we need to.

 

The question though is whether we are giving up our lives while we live them. Am I willing in the here and now to lay down my life for me friends? Who comes first, them or me? Who gets the biggest piece of the pie?

 

Laying down our loves doesn’t only mean we are willing to die. It means that we are wiling to lay down our lives daily as we live. We lay down our lusts and our desires and our wants and whims for others. Are we laying down our lives as we live? That is the true test of whether or not we love.

Don't be surprised

 

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. – 1 John 3.13-15

 

The West is now waking up to a reality that the world has known for centuries. The world is not going to love us. We are starting to learn that the world is going to hate us if are works are righteous because theirs are evil. It all started when Cain killed Able for that very reason. We have passed from death to life and the world is still dead in their sin. They are not going to get it no matter what.

 

Most of the world knows this. It is no shock because they experience it every day. They are arrested, tortured, locked away is boxes, beaten, and killed. Families are separated, women are raped, and men brutalized. And all because the world hates them so much.

 

I am not sure how we have escaped it. Things are changing though and it’s going to harder and harder to maintain our walk with the Lord and our testimonies. How are you going to respond to hatred and abuse? How are we going to act as our freedoms and our worship and such become the aims of government control?

 

We should not be shocked. If the world hated Jesus and we are walking as He walked how can we expect them to love us?

 

Don’t be surprised. Be ready.

The Love Imperitive

 

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. -1 John 3.10-12

 

Jesus told His disciples at one point that the way that the world would now that we are His is by the way we love each other. This is what makes it clear to the world whether we are believers or not.

 

A church divided is not showing the world any kind of love. The way the church fights is a blight and a ruinous thing for the cause of Christ.

 

We must live righteously and love each other. These are two key indicators of our salvation. I can claim to love God if I live in my sin and I hate my brother. Our social media seems to have stirred up a level of acceptable hate. There is no such thing. We may hare sin – but we can’t hate others, but especially the family of God.

 

The first letter of John reveal to us how the church should function in relation to God, to His family, and to others. As we look at our lives how are we doing in love. John is about to give us some searching questions to help us see how we are doing.