LOVING OTHERS

 

LOVING OTHERS

I John 2:9 If anyone says, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. NLT

It is not possible to love the Lord and not love His children.  Let us stop for a moment and think about this.  Think about those who are a part of the church that you have strong disagreements with because they don’t believe as you do.  Think about how you feel about them.  It’s easy to sit back and judge them because they don’t see “the light” in the same way you do.  It is easy to question whether or not they are even saved.  We develop strong feelings about those who are not walking in the light as we are walking in the light.

Yet, the Word teaches us that if we are living in the light, we will embrace all who are believers in Christ.  We may not understand their thinking or approve of their living, but that doesn’t get us off the hook.  Our responsibility before God is to love all those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We don’t always know for sure who are saved, but it really doesn’t matter.  We are to be channels of God’s love to the Church and world.  Godly love should define who we are.  It should be evident in all we do and say.  We are to live out godly love and let the Lord deal with the rest.  God is love and as His children, we inherit His love.

If we let our differences alienate ourselves from other parts of the body of Christ, we are living in darkness and not the light.  It’s something to think about as you think about your attitude towards those who you don’t know or understand within the body of Christ. And, it's something to think about when you consider your attitude and feelings towards those within the Church who you have problems with, those who may have wronged you and caused you grief and pain. To love God is to love others. Godly love is not selective love; we are to be vessels of love to all because God loves us and everyone else, too.

OBEDIENCE IN LOVE

 

OBEDIENCE IN LOVE

I John 2:3-6 And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. If someone says, "I belong to God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. But those who obey God's word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did. NLT

Being saved is more than just saying you are. A true child of God will obey the Word of God. There will be a conscious and determined decision to strive to live according to the teachings of Scripture. There will be a desire to learn and understand the Word so that the Word can have its proper effect on how life is lived. It's not too hard to figure out those who are trying to obey the Lord from those who aren't. The difference between the ways of the Word and the world are like night and day.

One of the sure proofs of a life lived in obedience to God is the love that comes from the heart. We obey God because we love Him. We love Him because it is the natural response of a heart who has been forgiven and filled with the presence of Christ. We love Him because we are so grateful for His forgiveness and willingness to adopt us as His children. We love Him because of His willingness and efforts to change who we were into a people like Him. We love Him because of His loving provision for our needs now and for all of eternity. If we are true children of God, we cannot resist the urge to love Him back, for He first loved us. He sought us out to save us. He is the one who prepared us for the day of our salvation. There is no greater love than the love of God for us and then the growing love we have for God.

He who claims to know God and yet does not love God and obey Him is a liar. The Truth is not in Him. Are you telling the truth when you say that you love God?

OUR SOUL SECURITY

 

OUR SOUL SECURITY

I John 2:3 And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. NLT

It doesn’t take much thinking to understand this simple, but profound, truth. Satan wants us to be in doubt about our salvation. He wants us to focus on the uncertainty of our salvation instead of the certainty of it. He wants to convince us that we can’t really know for sure where we stand before God. He wants us to believe that we are not worthy of salvation or that we aren’t being good enough to be saved.

John reminds us today that the proof of our salvation is not in our feelings or thoughts, it’s in our obedience. Those who are truly saved are those who strive to obey God. Obeying God requires us to know what God commands. In order to know what God requires of us, we must be students of His Word. We must read the Word with open hearts and minds, prayerfully seeking how it applies to our living. We must humbly accept God’s instruction and be willing to admit it and change when we fail to live it.

God has given us ready access to His Word. He exposes us to its teachings in many different ways so that we have no excuse for not knowing His commandments. God does not leave us in the dark and then expect us to keep His commandments. The more we know and understand His Word, the more responsibility we have to live by it. Whatever knowledge we have, we are to live it.

As we submit to the authority of God over us, the more knowledge we are given and thus increasing our responsibility to live holy lives. No one can claim innocence in this. God makes available to us all the resources we need to submit to Him and obey Him. He who does not obey God is living in sin and cannot have fellowship with Him or know that indeed he is saved.

If you belong to God you will obey Him and become like Him in your character.

JESIUS, OUR ADVOCATE

 

JESUS, OUR ADVOCATE

I John 2:1-2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world. NLT

The Word is given to us to help us to know what is sin and how not to do it. God does not want any of us to sin, even though He knows we will. Knowing our spiritual weaknesses that causes us to sin, God provided for us a Savior who not only can forgive us, He can help us to not sin. Jesus is on our side. Whenever we do sin, He is there to stand in-between God and us so that God in His anger will not destroy us. Jesus pleads the case before God for all who are in His care and sins. He is our advocate. He does not go to the defense of those who are not His, they are on their own to answer to God, they have no protector. In Christ there is forgiving grace. He honors those before God who honor Him. There is no sin that He cannot and does not forgive if there is genuine sorrow for it. If we are genuinely sorry, we will change and not continue to live in our sin.

Jesus pleases God completely. He did what He was sent here to do. He lived a sinless life so He could die a sinner's death. He became the perfect sacrifice for sin. There was nothing left undone that had to be done for us to be forgiven by God. He forgives us, but not just us. He forgives all who come to Him for forgiveness. There is forgiveness for everyone in the world if they want it. No one is beyond the reach of God's love, forgiveness and love. No one.

God is not happy one bit when we sin. He hates it. But, when we do sin, we have someone who can appease the wrath of God, Jesus our Savior. God can only forgive us through Christ Jesus our Lord. He allowed Jesus to come and provide a way for us to be forgiven for our sins because of His love for us. He has no desire to see anyone die and go to hell. Turn to Jesus and let Him take care of your sin problem.

BE HONEST

 

BE HONEST

I John 1:8-10 If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But, if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. NLT

It all begins with honesty. The fact of the matter is no one can say they don't have a sin problem. No one. Our problem with sin begins at conception and stays with us until we die. We are not only tempted by sin, we do it. If you think you are so spiritually minded that you no longer have a sin problem, you are in denial and not accepting the truth. God says we have sinned. If once we are saved we no longer have a sin problem, then why does God speak so clearly over and over again in His Word about the sins we have to overcome? He says we are in a spiritual war. We win some battles and we lose some. We are powerless to withstand the onslaught of sinful temptations and desires Satan throws at us in our lives on our own. And who can honestly make the claim that they are always so in tune with God that they cannot fall? We are in the flesh, live in a sinful world, and are not able yet to live like we are in heaven. So we need to be humble and honest enough to admit we sin.

The good news is that our sin does not have to enslave us. When we sin, there is a way to make ourselves right with God. We acknowledge our sin, confess our sin to Christ with sincerity of heart, ask Him for forgiveness with the intent of not doing it again, and then Christ, who is always faithful to His Word, will forgive us and cleanse our heart from all unrighteousness.

The Lord will not automatically forgive us when we sin. He does not force himself on us. We must come to Him seeking forgiveness before He will do it. True sorrow wants to be forgiven.

Is there any sin in your heart today that needs forgiven? Be honest. Examine your heart in light of what you know to be true from God's Word. What have you done or thought about that you know is sinful? Don't waste another opportunity to have a clean and pure heart. Confess your sin to Christ right now and He will forgive you.

NO SIN?

 

NO SIN?

I John 1:8-10 But if we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. NLT

If you have been in Christ for any length of time at all, it is so easy to convince yourself that you are right with God and have no sin. Let’s be honest about this. When was the last time you actually saw yourself as being guilty of sin? I believe that we are good at this because we fail to give much thought to what might be sin to us. We are not prone to examine carefully the things we say, do, read, see or hear in light of God’s holiness. We don’t often examine ourselves to see how much we think like the world thinks about things. When we see our lives in light of the Word and God’s holiness, we have to admit that indeed we are guilty of sin.

God declares us guilty of sin, and we are only fooling ourselves when we think otherwise. You and I are guilty of sin. In fact, to think otherwise is in itself sin. It is a prideful attitude to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We are to be humble in heart before God knowing that we fall short of His holy standards and that we need His help. John goes so far as to call us liars when we claim to not have sin in our hearts and He is right on.

The good news is that when we confess our sins to the Lord, He is faithful and just and will forgive us for our sins and purify our hearts. I am not suggesting that we need to stop and confess sin every time we mess up, but I am suggesting that we should consistently be aware of our sin and seek Christ’s forgiveness as the Spirit prompts us to. We are not to live in condemnation, but neither are we to ignore our need for forgiveness. The Lord will never refuse to forgive those who come to Him with humble and broken hearts over sin.

Peer into God’s holiness. See yourself as God sees you. What sinful thoughts or deeds do you need to confess before Christ today?

LIVING IN GOD'S PRESENCE

 

LIVING IN GOD’S PRESENCE

N God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. NLT

If is the key word in today’s verse. Not all who claim to be in Christ live in the light of God’s presence. To live in the light of God’s presence means that we become saturated with the glory of Christ. It means that we become holy before God. It means that we take on the mindset of God regarding faithfulness to the truth as being the way to live. It means we take on the heart of God regarding sin.

We can only have true fellowship with others when we live in the light of God’s presence. We are not able to set aside our sinful attitudes and behaviors without it. We cannot change how we think about others without God’s help. We cannot stop thinking more highly of others than we ought without God’s help. We cannot stop thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought without God’s influence. We cannot stop being self-serving without God’s help.

We can only live as we ought with each other through the shed blood of Christ at Calvary. What we are unable to do for ourselves, Christ does for us. He purifies our hearts so that we are not driven or controlled by sin. He changes our attitude about ourselves and others. He unites instead of dividing people. What cannot happen without Christ is made possible in Him. We can live at peace with each other. We can be one in heart for the glory of Christ. We can work together to reach the lost when we are controlled by Christ. We can have a genuine love and concern for one another in Christ.

Where there is strife and divisions in the fellowship of the church, there is an absence of the lordship of Christ over the church.

IF we are living in the light of God’s presence, we will live out His Word in the church and the world. We will be a people after God’s own heart, a holy people.