As we begin to read First John listen to the words and perhaps you will recognize John's themes from the Gospel of John that we just completed. Declaring the beginning - what we have touched and handled and see with our own eyes. He writes that God is light and has no darkness in him at all!
In 10 crisp verses John hits me right between the eyes! "If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:6&7 NRSV.
John delivers some reality therapy in this first of his letters. It feels a bit like slap therapy to me - how about you? Enjoy this read if you can, but whether or not you and I enjoy this letter I pray we will be challenged by God and grow as we read.
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
3 comments:
It really is an amazing thing - all we have to do is confess our sins and we are forgiven and cleansed.
Yet as simple as it is, it saddens me that so many people will spend eternity in Hell...unless we can get to them first.
How does that go? The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few?
I pray that the Lord uses me to witness and bring thousands of people to His alter with the time I have left.
Praise God for His mercies.
Wow. Great thoughts Bill and MW. It's a very sharp transition from the end of John to the beginning of 1 John, but you can definitely see the core values Jesus was speaking of during his last moments on earth being discussed as 1 John develops.
I really like the beginning...it's almost like a "mission statement." They knew what they wanted to do and accomplish, but they wanted to be sure to put it in writing. Now, thousands of years later, we know also!
MW, I hope to be with you on this journey - as well as all our other brothers and sisters. I have tried to "hide" my sin from God so many times. I wouldn't usually try to do something impossible (e.g. try to pick up my car and put it on my shoulders), so why try to hide from the God who knows the number of hairs on my head? Mind over matter or something.
Remember Romans? 10:9 -
"If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
You're so right MW, it's not so hard, but they still end up in that nasty place.
We have to be bold, take chances, and make things happen. God is with us.
AMEN.
God bless,
MB
Confession: I'm sometimes thankful for shorter chapters ;) Less to take in all at once.
This chapter reminds me something of the end of John 9 - not pretending we are something we aren't with God - that being worse that just being up front about our sinfulness. Our sinfulness won't prevent us from being 'in the light' if we confess when we are sinful. It's pretending that we're not doing so bad that gets us into trouble.
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