Verse of the Day 12/3/20
1 John 3:23-24 God wants us to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do. 24 If we obey God's commandments, we will stay one in our hearts with him, and he will stay one with us. The Spirit that he has given us is proof that we are one with him.
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Today's verses came up the read through the New Testament plan that I am following, this year in the Contemporary English Version. What drew my attention as I read and re-read them was the reference to the "Spirit that he has given us" as proof that we are "one" with Him. I am more familiar with the English Standard Version (below) which begins verse 23 with "and this is the commandment". It is one of those verses that can be taken out of context and lead some to believe that Christianity is about earning God's love by obeying His commands. If you have felt this or perhaps heard this, take a look again at the passage below.
The commandments mentioned can be summed up with "love God" and "love one another". It is not about following and obeying the 10 commandments let alone any other rules and regulations that man would like to add to prove holiness. At the same time, if we truly love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves, all of the other things will fall in line. But even this is not something that we can do on our own. We love God and love each other through the Spirit that God has given us and lives inside of us by grace through faith.
This is nothing new. It goes back to the Shema in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and Jesus' sermon on the mount in Matthew chapters 5 -7 and elsewhere. If we follow what we are called to do in today's passage and the others referenced, people would know that we are Christians by our love. These thoughts brought me back to the song learned back in the 70's as a teenager.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they'll know we are Christians by our love.
We hear calls for unity in our nation, in our churches and in our families. The only way that it can be achieved is through love as exemplified in the life of Jesus and outline in the pages of His Word.
-- In Christ, Mike Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
1 John 3:19-24 English Standard Version (ESV)
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,[a] and God[b] in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
No comments:
Post a Comment