Let's go to the King James Version of the Bible to see what was going on with John in the First Epistle of John.
The First Epistle of John
God is light; God is love; and God is life. John is enjoying a delightful fellowship with that God of light, love, and life. and he desperately desires that his spiritual children enjoy the same fellowship.
God is light. Therefore, to engage if fellowship with Him we must walk in light and not in darkness. As we walk in the light, we will regularly confess our sins, allowing the blood of Christ to continually cleanse us. Two major roadblocks to hinder this walk will be falling in love with the world and falling for the alluring lies of false teachers.
God is love. Since we are His children we must walk in love. In fact, John says that if we do not love, we do not know God. Love is more than just words; it is actions. Love is giving, not getting. Biblical love is unconditional in its nature. Christ's love fulfilled those qualities and when that brand of love characterizes us, we will be free of self-condemnation and experience confidence before God.
God is life. Those who fellowship with Him must possess His quality of life. Spiritual life begins with spiritual birth which occurs through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith the apostle John's name is not found in this book, it was given the title Ioannou A, the "First of John."
Day Eight
From [Christ's] fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16
For several years my family and I wew priviledged to live near the ocean. Not only did the beach serve as a favorite family relaxation spot, it also provided an endless supply of kelp for our garden. Kelp? Yes, kelp. With every ocean wave...after wave...after wave...God provided, free of charge, buckets and buckets of kelp. We used the seaweed as fertilizer and even planted seed potatoes in it for an ease, no-digging-required harvest! Kelp was organic, plentiful, and great for our garden.
In today's Bible reading, John mentions Christ's "grace upon grace." Can't you just picture the continuous ocean waves as a model of the way God lavishes His grace on us? Time and time again. He freely sends wave upon wave of grace our way. We do nothing to earn this grace and love. God simply loves us, daily watching over us and forgiving all our many sins because of Christ's death and resurrection.
Day by day, hour by hour, God's grace keeps coming... and coming...and coming! And we receive that grace hour after hour, day by day, challenge after challenge, time after time, with thankful hearts.
His grace is always more than enough to satisfy our needs.
Prayer suggestion. For what specific challenge do you need God's grace today? Pray about it now.
The First Epistle of John
God is light; God is love; and God is life. John is enjoying a delightful fellowship with that God of light, love, and life. and he desperately desires that his spiritual children enjoy the same fellowship.
God is light. Therefore, to engage if fellowship with Him we must walk in light and not in darkness. As we walk in the light, we will regularly confess our sins, allowing the blood of Christ to continually cleanse us. Two major roadblocks to hinder this walk will be falling in love with the world and falling for the alluring lies of false teachers.
God is love. Since we are His children we must walk in love. In fact, John says that if we do not love, we do not know God. Love is more than just words; it is actions. Love is giving, not getting. Biblical love is unconditional in its nature. Christ's love fulfilled those qualities and when that brand of love characterizes us, we will be free of self-condemnation and experience confidence before God.
God is life. Those who fellowship with Him must possess His quality of life. Spiritual life begins with spiritual birth which occurs through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith the apostle John's name is not found in this book, it was given the title Ioannou A, the "First of John."
Day Eight
From [Christ's] fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16
For several years my family and I wew priviledged to live near the ocean. Not only did the beach serve as a favorite family relaxation spot, it also provided an endless supply of kelp for our garden. Kelp? Yes, kelp. With every ocean wave...after wave...after wave...God provided, free of charge, buckets and buckets of kelp. We used the seaweed as fertilizer and even planted seed potatoes in it for an ease, no-digging-required harvest! Kelp was organic, plentiful, and great for our garden.
In today's Bible reading, John mentions Christ's "grace upon grace." Can't you just picture the continuous ocean waves as a model of the way God lavishes His grace on us? Time and time again. He freely sends wave upon wave of grace our way. We do nothing to earn this grace and love. God simply loves us, daily watching over us and forgiving all our many sins because of Christ's death and resurrection.
Day by day, hour by hour, God's grace keeps coming... and coming...and coming! And we receive that grace hour after hour, day by day, challenge after challenge, time after time, with thankful hearts.
His grace is always more than enough to satisfy our needs.
Prayer suggestion. For what specific challenge do you need God's grace today? Pray about it now.
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