1 John 3

1 John 3King James Version (KJV)

3 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

² Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

³ And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

⁴ Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

⁵ And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

⁶ Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

⁷ Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

⁸ He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

⁹ Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

¹⁰ In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

¹¹ For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

¹² Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

¹³ Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

¹⁵ Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶ Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

¹⁷ But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

¹⁹ And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

²⁰ For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

²¹ Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

²² And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

²³ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

²⁴ And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

My thoughts:


In this chapter, John really talks about love.  We have the love of the Father given to us and we can be called the Sons of God because of that. 
The world does not understand this love and may not accept God. They may even turn away from us when we proclaim the love of God. 
Verse 2 talks about being like Him.  We shall be like him when he appears.  I also believe that if we are loving others, we are demonstrating the very heart of Jesus. 
Verse 3 says every man that has this hope, purifies himself because God is pure. I think this says that we are to turn away from the sin and do the things we know God would have us to do. Sin goes against the law of God and if we go against God’s law, we are a sinner. There is no sin in Christ. 

When we are in Christ, really living for him, we should not have a habit of being sinful. We are still human beings, but sin should not be found commonplace in us. When we are born of God, he washes away all of our sin, we have a clean slate. Sometimes, we have to go and get it washed again. Sin is not of God. It is of the devil. We should strive to do righteousness and live righteous. 

I find the next part of this chapter interesting. It really talks about how we treat others in the body of Christ. If we are to be known as part of the body, we are to love one another. Really love one another.  If there is any hate at all in a heart for a brother, then it actually separates us from God.  I have heard christians talk about how much they dislike a brother or sister. I have heard christians say they will not forgive. I have heard christians say negative and hurtful things about others for many reasons. This is not of God. In fact, verse 15 straight out says if you have hate for a brother, your are a murderer. 

Compassion is love that really cares about another’s need. If we see a need and don’t act to help, we are not obeying Christ. We are actually not displaying love, denying the love of God and our lack of action shows we don’t really have the love of God in us. 

When we act on love, display our love, meet needs around us, act on our compassion. Display the love of God, then we can stand on verse 22. Our heart cannot be condemned when love is exuding from it. 
That love displayed gives us the confidence to be able to say,

Whatsoever we ask, we receive if him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.  

Loving one another is pleasing in His sight. 

When we believe on the name of Jesus, and love one another. That is the command to which John is referring.

When we keep these simple commands, we are dwelling in Jesus. So simple, yet so difficult to do.  

Questions:

Why have we made these commands so hard?

What can I do to show I believe?

What can I do to really love others?

1 John 2

1 John 2     King James Version (KJV)

2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.


John continued to write in this letter about sin. We must beware of the deceptions of sin. When we keep God's commandments and keep His word, we are of him.  If we do not keep God's commandments we are not of him, plain and simple.  God is asking us to follow him, keep His commandments and obey His word.
He promises here that he has overcome sin and the world. He is in us and will help us overcome sin. He defeated sin on the cross. He forgives sin and wants to move in us. We should not love the things of this world more than God. Too many times, we hang on to little things that keep us from God.

Verse 16 shows us that most things of this world, sin is based on three things.
1. lust of the flesh
2 lust of the eyes
3. pride of life

These are the things that get us into trouble and keep us from the Father. This is what tempts us, plays on our fleshly desires and overtakes us in our weakness.
God gives us the strength and the ability to say no to lust and pride. He has revealed His truth to us. He has given us His word to feed upon and learn from. If we go to the word that has been here from the beginning, we can find our strength. We can have confidence in the Word of God and know that He will keep us.
This chapter ends with reminding us that when we know God is righteous, when we do righteousness, we will know we are born of Him.
Thank you Lord, for your sacrifice. Thank you Lord for defeating sin. Lord let me walk in your righteousness and grow a love for you in my heart that is greater than any love of things of this world. Let me put you first and love you above all else.

1 John 1

John wrote three letters to the church.  He gave guidance about being a follower of Christ.

1 John 1 (New King James Version (NKJV))

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

There are a couple of  points to this chapter. 

Part one, verses 1to 4 tells why he wrote this.  He wants us to know joy should be full or complete because of Jesus.  We need to have fellowship with Christ and with one another.  This is where we find life. He explains the witness or testimony of what we have heard, seen and experienced.  We have a testimony or a witness to share.  We have heard the Word of God, we have seen what God can do and we have experienced what God has done in us and for us.  That is what we declare.  

He also wrote about fellowship. Verses 5-7 explain that we have a message.  God is light and we are to walk in light.  Darkness has no place and cannot be in the light.  When we turn on a light in our house we can see where we are going.  I have a basement and if I do not turn on a light, it is very dark and hard to see.  I don't like that.  I always reach for that light switch.  We are to be the light.  We are to walk in Him.  Jesus is the light of the world and he does not fellowship with darkness.  I saw a picture that has a match burning.  On the wall behind it is a shadow of the match, but there is no shadow for the fire.  Light does not have a shadow.  God is light and we are to reflect that light to the world.  There should be no place for sin in our lives. 

Verses 8-10 explain to us that we need to recognize that we have sinned and we should not deceive ourselves by thinking we have no sin or say we do not sin.  We get caught up sometimes in thinking we are doing good, trying to be good and do nice things etc.  We let our self take pride in our own righteousness.  God says that our righteousness is filthy rags before him. (Isaiah 64:6) In Romans 3:23 it says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Thankfully,  we have forgiveness in the blood of Jesus. He has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. In Him, we are made righteous and holy.  We have no holiness in ourselves. Only through Jesus are we made holy and right. 

John definitely gave some good advice and explanations about who we are in God.  We have a testimony. We are forgiven.  That is a good place to start.

1. Do I realize that my testimony is powerful?  

2. Think about your own testimony.  Go back to that moment we salvation came to you.  What a powerful moment.

3. Do we recognize the righteousness of God operating in us?

4. Let us remember the joy of salvation today and thank Him for this precious gift.

a little boy's lunch

Scripture text:
John 6:1-14
1After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”

10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples[a] to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

This is a wonderful miracle performed by Jesus.  I want to point out something in the first verse. There was big crowd following because Jesus had been healing all that were diseased. He had been performing many miracles already. They disciples had seen these miracles. Yet, when it came time to feed the multitude, they immediately looked at the physical circumstances. When Jesus asked Philip about buying bread, Philip responded that there was not enough money.  He knew they did not have enough.  He also knew the markets were far away.  Peter reported that only food around was a little boy's lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish, but was basically nothing with so many people.

They had a very human response to a very big situation.  How could they possibly provide for so great a need?  They forgot who they knew.  They forgot they were with Jesus. They did not associate the mighty healing power he had just demonstrated with meeting a basic need. They did not think to call on Jesus and say, "can you do something about this overwhelming need?"

Jesus already knew what they were going to say. He was well aware of the human response they would have.  But the part that amazes me is the little lad was willing to hand over his lunch to Jesus.  He didn't argue or try to keep it for himself.  He willingly gave Jesus all he had. He was hungry too, but all he knew is Jesus needed what he had. Jesus wanted all and he gave it.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

So when we give to God, give ourselves and all we have and are, He will bless us boutifully. Not only did the little boy get to eat a fulfilling lunch, the entire multitude ate. There were even leftovers!
If we give little, we get little in return.  It may not always come back to us they way we expect, but God meets our needs, pours bountiful blessings on us and our families and into our lives.
We need to recognize that God does not ask us to give without the promise of His abundance.

He loves a cheerful giver. A giver, not just of material things, but of kindness, love, time, energy, etc.

1. Have I been a cheerful giver?

2. Have I understood that giving brings blessing?

3. Have I resisted giving due to my own fear, greed, insecurity?

Lord, help me be a cheerful and willing giver. Help me, Lord, to our into others just as you would. Help me be Your hands and feet. Make my heart the heart of a giver.

Where Your Heart Is

What we store in our heart is what we love. Our heart holds our treasure. There are several verses that talk about our heart and what is in it.

Scriptures:
Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Romans 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are right, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Matthew 15:18-20 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Thoughts:
As I read through these verses, I really was impressed by what I treasure.  I store my precious memories, thoughts and desires in my heart. I think about Mary.  When the wise men came and the shepherds came to worship her baby Jesus, she stored up all those things in her heart. She held on to her memories. What do I store up in my heart, is what I think about, what I work for and what I want.

So what am I storing up in my heart?

David said, Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.  Psalms 119:11
I hope I am storing up God's word, God's love and love for God.
I want to be able to say that I am meditating on my Savior and His word. I want to be able to say I am thinking about God and His will. I want to think about what God is asking me to do and be able to respond to his leading.  I want to recognize His voice and obey.

What is proceeding out of my heart?

It says in Matthew that what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and that is what defiles us.  I don't want to be uttering hurtful things, harmful things and things that are not of God.  Lord forgive me for saying anything that is contrary to you.  Forgive me for gossip, hurtful words and negative ideas.

I need to ask myself more often, "what am I thinking about, meditating on, and even speaking?"
If it not of God, I really need to change me thoughts and change my words.  I need to change what is in my heart.