Thoughts From the Bible

Read  2 John 1: 7-13- Conflict and deception. We see so much conflict and deception in our world today. It is more than differences of opinion. It is deception that is promoted for one agenda or another. John saw Christians were faced with deception  and it was important enough for God to impress upon John to write about it. In verse 7 John writes, “I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.” God knew we would be faced with similar situations, and we needed to be taught to be sensitive to teaching and test that teaching with against Biblical principles. There was yet another person given time in our modern media to cast aspirations on Christianity and the whole concept of God. Many will be influenced by this person. As Christians, we need to know God’s word and recognize these people and situations and not allow them a place in our lives.

Read 2 John 1: 1-6 - Some people when discussing their goals and desires in certain situations in life will refer to their “true north”. This is simply making sure that person does not lose sight of what the goal is or what the basic principle of life is. God’s principles should be what the actions of our lives should be, and the true north of these principles is how we love each other. John was inspired to write this in verses 5 and 6, “I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.”  

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...