Verse of the Day 12/3

Through the Bible - Daniel 3-4, 1 John 5

 

Good morning,

One thing you'll notice as you read through Johns writings, both in his gospel and in the epistles, is that he uses contrasts; light and darkness, love and hate, life and death   John sees things in black and white, there are no shades of gray shades of gray.

For today's verse we'll go to 1 John chapter 3 which tells us that to love is a life or death issue.

1 John 3:14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.  NLT
To love others, especially our Christian brothers and sisters is to be a way of life, a lifestyle if you will.

In a sermon on this passage, Steve Roy states, "What does a lifestyle of love prove? In word, life-spiritual life, eternal life, the life of God himself. Or to be more precise, a lifestyle of love gives strong and sure evidence that we have passed out of death into life. That's John's conviction about the nature of a Christian. A Christian is one in whom a resurrection has occurred, a spiritual resurrection in union with Christ "out of death into life." In 1 John 2:10 love was the sure evidence of a Christian's abiding in the light. Here in 3:14, love is the surest test of having life. The contrary is also true. "He who does not love abides in death," just as he is "in darkness" according to 2:9, 11. In the vocabulary of John, love, light, and life belong together as do hatred, darkness, and death."

Not loving is hating in John's eyes.  Think back to yesterday and the "bruise reed" the "smoldering wick".  Breaking the bruised reed or putting out the smoldering wick of a fallen brother or sister is tantamount to hating.  We have a responsibility to love, to show compassion and mercy to our brothers, to our "neighbors".

The apostle Paul echoed John's sentiments in Gal 6:10 -  Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.  NLT
I remember a friend from a men's small group from years ago that often when making a request to God in prayer  would say "Father meet the need".  It would be a good motto to use in seeking the opportunity to do good, to love others.

As we pray may we also seek to be instruments in meeting those needs.

Blessings,
Mike

mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com

 

1 John 3:11-20

Love One Another

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don't be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God's love be in that person?

18 Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.  NLT