Make a Choice

DEVOTION 1 JOHN MAKE A CHOICE 1 John 2:15-17 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. NIV How can it be said any other way, but do not love the world or anything in the world? What does this mean to love the world and the things in it? Are they things in this world that we take pleasure in, prize above all else, and are we unwilling to abandon or do without it? That seems to be the sense of this word love as used here. Do we crave for certain creature comforts? Do we have to have a new this or that; we simply cannot do without having the latest version of whatever it is? Do we get great pleasure out of just window shopping, gazing upon all the things we would like to have? Does obtaining a new thing make us feel better about ourselves and we cannot want to show it off? Do we employ all our time and energy to accrue finer things? Are we always looking and longing for the time when we can buy something newer and better than what we already have? Do we take pride in our worldly accomplishments and make sure others know how much we have done. God has told us to be in the world but not to be of it, not to participate in way the people of the world behave. We serve a higher power and must always place Him first in our lives. Yes, as the husband we must love and wives, be willing to lay our life down for her, and as wives, we must be honor and respect our husbands, be willing to set aside our own desires for his. Yes, all the relationships and all the behaviors commanded by God, we need to do, but that is, in fact, putting Him first. But when we start spending our time and energy in the accumulation of things for our own enjoyment and pleasure we might well be in danger of setting God in second place. Can we have nice things? Absolutely, without question, but we must give God all the credit for what we have and what we do. Without Him we can do nothing that is worthwhile, or have anything that matters. If we serve Him with all our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength then He will bless us beyond our wildest dreams. He will provide all our needs, whether they are spiritual, mental, emotional, or material. Did He not say that life is more than all these things? Did He not say that He would take care of us, that we are so valuable to Him? Did He not say that what we place value on is where our heart is also? Stuff is just stuff, but God is God. Which can give us the greater joy? If we can actually acknowledge all the stuff we have and what we do is a result of the hand of God, if we can give it all up, leave it behind, or give it away, then we can pass this test spoken of here and say we do not love the world or anything in it, that we love God. So who do we love? We must make the choice.

Living For God

DEVOTION 1 JOHN LIVING FOR GOD 1 John 2:12-14 12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. NIV Does it matter at the point the need to describe or discover the differences between dear children, fathers, and young men? Do we need to know the children may have been new converts, the fathers may have been believers right away and may actually have seen Christ, and the young man might have been those who came to Christ and are now working diligently for the cause of Christ? What we should be focused on is what or how do we apply this to us today. Sometimes we can get so distracted with the history of the Word that we lose sight of the application to our lives. If all of scripture is God breathed and good for teaching, correcting and rebuking then we need to see how this works in our lives today. There is no question that we know our sins have been forgiven, but do we, at times, forget and allow guilt and shame to creep in? When we became believers did we spend time really getting to know him, have we continued to gather as much information as we can about him? Are we continually improving in our understanding of him, his character, his personality, his methods of communication and interaction with us? Although by the simple act of accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior we have overcome the evil one, having forsaken his control over us, and submitted ourselves to Christ, we still need the strength of Christ, the power of the Spirit to continue our journey, not returning to our old ways or succumbing to the influence of the devil. We need to be strong and have the word of God live deep within us, so that we have the words of God to speak against his attacks on our soul. True we all may be on different levels in our journey with God, some just beginning as dear children having to learn the basics, being able to learn and understand the language, as our children must do in this world. Some may be those old fathers who have been in the faith for most of their life, and are now old and grey in the standards of this world, but we know God, and must continue our faith and journey as well, not even being content with our position and retire from his service, sitting back and thinking I have done my part, it is time for the younger one to battle now. There are also many of us who are young and strong in our faith doing battle daily for the kingdom of God, knights in shining armor, carrying the sword of truth into the battle, guarding the women and children, so to speak. Then again we could see each phrase, in our lives as well, seeing our development as a believer, but truly it is all about each one of us, being all that we can be, living for God.

Something to Think About

DEVOTION 1 JOHN SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT 1 John 2:9-11 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. NIV Is there any room at all in the heart and mind of a believer for anything but pure love for their brother? The question is of course, is who is our brother? That is answered by the Greek word for brother who can include fellow citizens of the world, all of mankind. It does in the sense of having been written to us believers appear that brother means all fellow believers in Christ. But still that is a tall order, as we find so many different types of personalities within the body of Christ and some can be quite irritating. Sure hate is a strong word and within the meaning of the Greek word used there is has many applications, but still it refers to not loving, no matter how we attempt to apply it. So how do we love? Can we have feelings of less than love, even towards those who seem not to love us? Can we allow any hard feelings to exist at all? If we apply the definition or explanation of what love is from Corinthians and then think about all our fellow believers can we say we are doing what is right, that we are walking in the light? Do we dare think we could be walking in darkness while attending church and being a part of worship with those people who we do not necessarily enjoy being around? Why do believers form little tight knit groups and seem to not allow outsiders to be a part of? Can we have special friendships within the whole body? Maybe, but do we exclude others from even being friendly towards. Maybe on the outside we appear to like, or love everyone, but what about on the inside? Are we being false in our appearance, all the while having a little envy, jealousy, bitterness, or some other form of distain for a fellow believer? Do we even go so far as to be judgmental of their personality all the while, thinking we are judging their behavior, which still is a problem and then we still try justifying our feelings? Have we been blinded to what love really is by our own selfish ways? Do we actually love our brother? This is truly something to think about.

Shining The Truth

DEVOTION 1 JOHN SHINING THE TRUTH 1 John 2:7-8 7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. NIV From the very beginning all this was already planned by God as he was revealing what he was going to do to this people. He has been telling them the redemption story from the very start of their disobedience, this is the old one spoken of here. It is not the law in essence, although it was the law which points us to Jesus. If we try to live by the law, by the rules and regulations set forth by God, or by men, we will surely fail, for it is impossible to keep the whole law, and if we break just one itty bitty portion of it, we are guilty of breaking the whole law. There is just no way around that. But the darkness of that fact, of never being good enough to re-enter the paradise of God, has been put aside, because of the true light. What can we do that is good enough not to be guilty of the whole law? We can accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and thus in him we have been proclaimed innocent by God. He has rendered us, considered us innocent and thus the darkness in our lives has passed and now the new light of Christ is not only in us, but shining forth from us. At least that is the way it is supposed to be. But the question which has to be asked is in fact the true light shining in our lives. Do we walk around burdened with the cares of this world? Do we walk with a slump in our step because of the heaviness in our heart? Do we walk with one eye on material things, one eye on our own agenda, and one eye on gaining as much of this world as we can? Should we not turn our eyes, both of them, on Jesus and look full in his wonderful face? Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace. Yes we should be so filled with his glory and grace that his light shines brightly through us into the darkness which others are still walking. If we now the truth, how can we keep it to ourselves? Do we just let those who are still in the darkness of living under the law, under the rules and regulations of man stay there and perish? We need to let the truth shine. We need to be shining the truth.

What To Do

DEVOTION 1 JOHN WHAT TO DO 1 John 2:3-6 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. NIV It cannot be much clearer than this. Yet we have to ask if we are supposed to walk as Jesus did, does that mean without sin, being perfect in every aspect of our life? If we look at this within the context we can see that is not what is being said, but rather Jesus obeyed his Father’s command and so should we. God had a plan, a reason for Jesus being here on earth. God had determined what was to be accomplished for his kingdom by Jesus doing what he was called to do. Jesus was here for an expressed reason, to be the Lamb of God, to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. Jesus set the example, showed us the way, in terms of doing what God has called us to do. Yes, Jesus surely set an example for us to live a holy and upright life. Yes Jesus set the example for us to live without sin. But within this truth we are to gather the example of being obedient to the plan and purpose God has for our life and what we are doing to in order to benefit the Kingdom of God. If we say we are Christians, that we know God and yet continue to live our lives focused on our own plans, our own ambitions, our own goals, trusting in our own efforts to store up whatever it is we feel we need for our later years, looking to our future, and not giving much thought at all to what does God require of us to advance his kingdom, then maybe we lie when we say we are Christians, and the truth is not really in us. If we claim to be a believer, that we are in Christ, then we need to see exactly what is our purpose, what is God’s purpose for our live, what are we supposed to be doing for him, for his kingdom? That should be our main focus in life. Jesus said that he had no place to lay his head, he was not concerned about where is was going to sleep, or what he would eat, or clothes he would wear, he was focused on the Kingdom of God, should not we be the same way? Is that not what this is all about? Should we really spend so much time on all the temporal things, when we should be spending time on the eternal things? Life is more than…..isn’t that what Jesus said? So what will we do?

Invited Back In

DEVOTION 1 JOHN INVITED BACK IN 1 John 2:1-2 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. NIV That is the goal, the mark to which attain to, not to sin. This is the purpose we have been given these words, these standards that God has established for us to live by, so that we do not sin, we do not behave in a manner which displeases him. It would seem simple enough. It would appear we have a whole lot more of his words then Adam had. Is all he said to Adam was don’t eat of that one tree? We have volumes of what God has said to us and still we aren’t any better than Adam. However we do have one thing going for us, which it does not appear Adam, did. He was cast out of the Paradise God had created for him. It seems clear enough that all of mankind is still cast out of God’s paradise, because of sin, Adams as well as each individual’s continual sin. So because we have such a difficult time not sinning, God in his infinite mercy provided a way for us to regain our rightful place in his paradise. He provides the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, Jesus Christ. Now Jesus sits at his right hand and speaks on our defense. When we behave in manner which displeases God, Jesus is right there, telling the Father he took that into account on the cross. Should we continue to sin so that God’s grace may abound, God forbid. But if we do, Jesus is there for us. Rather I should say, but when we do, Jesus is there for us. It is not a question of if, but of when as perfection in the human condition is next to impossible. As much as we try, as hard as we make an effort, as determined we set out heart to remain completely free of sin, we still fail. How is this possible if we have the Spirit? Clearly we are not mindless robots totally control by a source outside our own power. We always have a choice to listen and obey or not listen and not obey. Clearly we still set our course of action. It is true for the most of the time we set our course in the direction of God, listening to the instructions of the Spirit, but then there are also times when we travel our own path, setting aside, if just for a moment, however brief, those instructions. That is when sin enters and that is when Jesus speaks up. Where would we be without Jesus? Cast out. But we do have Jesus and so we are invited back in.

Keep Asking

DEVOTION 1 JOHN KEEP ASKING 1 John 1:8-10 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. NIV A confusing bit of truths which some have determined this sin spoken of here is that which only occurred prior to accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. These people state, at least, that once they accepted Jesus they no longer have any sin, that in fact, they have stopped sinning. I have actually been witness with my own hears to those kinds of words and ideas. It is difficult to understand how anyone could ever make a statement like that. It is clear they have deceived themselves into that kind of thinking. In the first place it would seem saying we have no sin, that we have stopped sinning, would be in some sense spiritual pride, if not fleshly pride, which both would in fact be sin in themselves. Therefore by merely saying we do not sin, is sin, and therefore we lie, and we make God out to be a liar at the same time. Now it is certainly true that we need to when we come to Christ we need to acknowledge that we are sinners, and we need to ask for the forgiveness of God for such behavior. It is absolutely true that if we ask, he will forgive, he will cleanse us, he will purify us of all unrighteousness. But that does not mean we will never sin again, for it is simply impossible for us to be perfect sinless people, no matter what anyone says. Our lives must be a continued seeking of forgiveness, and he will continually forgive and cleanse us. It is when we start thinking we do not need to ask for the forgiveness of sin, that we have no sin to ask forgiveness from, that we are lacking his forgiveness and cleansing and purifying and are in very danger itself. If we love him and his word is in us then we must know we are not perfect like Christ and that we fail on a regular basis to live up to the standard God has laid out for us. It is when the word is actually not in us, that is we have developed our own ideas of Christianity, our own doctrines, and our own rules and regulations that we begin to think we are “good” Christians because we follow our own set of ideas. How dangerous is that? No the word declares we need the forgiveness of God all the time, not just once. Keep asking.