Thoughts From the Bible

Read  I John 3: 4-6 This passage does not need much clarification; “Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in Him. Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is.” These are verses that are not complicated, and I need to take to heart. I need to examine myself and see where I stand or where I may fall short.  

Read I John 3: 1- 3-  We live in an age when people want to belong to some type of group. We have something within our psyches that implores us to want to belong to a group of people who either believe the way we believe or who accepts us and affirms our value as a person. John is telling us we are part of a very special group if we accept Jesus as our savior.   In verse 1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Not everyone can be called a child of God but everyone can be a child of God.  As we see our families and how parents love and care for our children, God loves us that much more and will care for us.  We need to be aware of this truth and remind ourselves how closely God will be with us as we work to be better followers of God. 

Read  I John 2: 28-29 - This is something we need to be reminded about from time-to-time. We need to put forth the effort to stay in fellowship with Christ or maintain an ongoing relationship with Him. How do we do this? We pray. We read the Bible. We worship. We stay aware of the situations around us and determine if we need to be God’s hands and feet in this physical world. These are all the things included when John tells us to do what is right. Verses 28 and 29, “And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame. Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.”

I John 2: 26-27- We have a very gracious God. It is so interesting how the God of the universe has given us the spirit of Jesus through the Holy Spirit to continue to guide us. John cautions us to be careful about allowing us to be taken off course by people who do not love God. This passage is very clear , “I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. So, you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father . But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches you is true; it is not a lie. So, just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.”    

  I John 2: 20-25- Verses 24 and 25 say, “So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father . And in this fellowship, we enjoy the eternal life He promised us.” John is acting as a teacher to us in this section of scripture. He is encouraging us to be faithful. We need to remember all that we have learned about Christ. We need to remember all we have learned about God’s principles. We need to remember how God loved us first, not after we decided to accept Him. To remember all we have learned allows our faith to grow and be strong and God continues to remember us at that point and promises we will see eternal life spiritually. This is a passage of faith and encouragement for us.

  1 John 2: 18-19- The Antichrist. As Christians, we have heard about the coming of the Antichrist all of our lives. John wrote about this two thousand years ago. Is this whole concept of the Antichrist real or not? If we read all John has written, we get a clear picture of the actual person who will be the Antichrist. We also need to avoid being naive and realize there are a growing number of people who are antichrists or against Christ. See what John writes in verse 18, “ Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know the last hour has come.” Fewer people are attending church and see no need for God or even a spiritual entity of any kind. More people are growing more and more comfortable about coming out publicly to criticize those who do believe in God. These “antichrists” are growing in our modern world, and we need to be confident in our Biblical worldview and...

Read  1 John 2: 15-17- John is trying to help us remember what our focus should be. John is fostering a lifestyle that is focused on God and the principles of God. The world in John’s time was a very basic existence but even then, he was preaching to believers they should not focus on the things of this world. In 2024, the world has so much to entice us. There is so much affluence, but this shows the everlasting power of the words of the Bible. John is teaching us the difference between our world and God’s world. In verse 17, “And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. ”

Read 1 John 2: 12-14- I think it is interesting to see how John wrote to Jesus’ followers. His goal was to include everyone, but he still made distinctions in his message. Verse 13 says this, “ I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one.” I do not want to miss the message that what is written in the Bible is directed to me regardless of whether I have recently accepted Jesus or whether I have been following Jesus most of my life. We need to understand our Christian life never ends and our growth must never stop. We need to listen to the principles of God repeatedly and evaluate where we stand in relationship to the principles. Are we following God’s principles or do we have more work to do. Do we need to be more consistent in following God’s principles? Our Christian life should be a life of continual growth.   ...

 Read 1 John 2: 7-11 - John was writing that loving each other was not a new commandment. There were obviously still some issues at work among some of the believers. In verse 11 there is this, “Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.” This is another passage that is trying to show believers that we must rise above our human emotions and be the believer Jesus would have us to be. We may not particularly like another Christian, but hate is something that must be removed from our souls. We need to guard against that and know that Jesus expects more from us as His followers. This is where our prayer needs to serve as the catalyst to continuing on the road to be the Christian Jesus needs us to be.

Read 1 John 2: 3-6- There is one thing to be forgiven of sin and God’s grace to us through the sacrifice of His Son. We are responsible for the follow through on God’s grace to us. We must strive to live better lives as a testimony of God’s grace to us. God has given us a roadmap for our lives, we have the responsibility to follow the roadmap. In I John 1: 3-6 we read, “And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims, “I know God, ‘but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives, as Jesus did.” You can’t say it much better than that. We’re human. We need to review God’s Ten Commandments and start with the first one and live that commandment. Through the rest of our lives, we can move through those commandments and the other te...

Read 2 John 1: 1-2 - The human life can be a difficult life. Difficult in that we have been given a challenge to not sin. We are human and we are going to sin even though we may have professed our faith and belief in God. God wants us to continue to work to be the best we can be. We will fail and God knows that. But God shows us His grace in this short passage. Verse 1, “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father . He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. (2) He Himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins; and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” I know this short passage is about sin and encouraging us to not sin but the thought that really jumps out at me is that God loved us enough to allow His Son to be our sacrifice and give us a direct pathway to God and the grace He has provided us. That should humble all of us .    

Read  I Jonn 1: 8- 10 - This is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. This short passage drives home the point that none of us is without fault. Many think they are “good people” and that is all they need to be. Whether public or private, we all have some issues we need to surrender to a loving God. In 1 John 1: 8-10 we read, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.” Too many people believe acknowledging sin is admitting they are a horrible person. To the contrary, it helps us to acknowledge a loving God and His care for us. It also should help us to see how to improve as a person and a better example for a God-loving person.

Read I John 1: 5-7- Where do we live our lives day-in and day-out? Some people are uncomfortable with this approach to Christianity. There are some Christians who talk about developing a Christian worldview. We need a Christian daily view. See what is written in verse 7, “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” We have the challenge of working to walk in the light of the gospel of Jesus but look at the promise He has given us. He takes away our sins and is there for us in our daily lives. People like to segment different areas of their lives, but we are seeing here that our lives should be daily integrated in what Jesus has taught and who He is .