No fear

In our Father’s house there are many, many rooms. But the one thing there is no room for is fear. Every room is filled with His love. In fact, the more His love forms in me and matures, this love just pushes out all fear. It is banished!!

Fear can cripple me and my faith. So I pursue my Father’s love. I seek to have it mature in me. Be well formed. That pushes out the fear.

There is no fear in love ; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18

In synch all the time

John was one motivated man of God. He saw first hand the unique relationship Jesus had with God. They were perfectly in synch. Never ever out of touch at all. Jesus always hit the mark, doing what He saw His Father doing, saying what He heard His Father saying. Union and communion of the highest order.

The promise is that we can enjoy the same relationship with God as well. Jesus has made it all possible. We can enjoy that same communion too.

We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! 1 John 1:3-4

The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out

My love for the Father should squeeze out everything else. Wanting my own way is not the Father’s way. Wanting what He wants is the way. What does He want? He wants me to love Him. He wants me to love everyone who is a part of my life. He wants me to love like He does.

May my love for the Father squeeze out everything else.

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity. 1 John 2:15-17

 

A clean sweep

 God has made us a grand promise. And, He is true to His word. We know that we’ve missed God’s goal in our life. He doesn’t see that. He sees Jesus taking that burden off of us. Once we come clean, he completely purges us from that way of seeing things.

I need to remember that and change my mind about how God sees me. I can achieve the goal He has in mind for me. I am His child.

On the other hand, if we admit our we have missed God’s goal for our lives—make a clean breast of  that issue—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive us and purge us of all wrongdoing. 1 John 8-10

A Simple Test

Some tests are hard. Others are simple. This one is VERY simple. Loving others deeply and the way God does is the test of right living. Right living in God and right living with all who are a part of my life. It is all about the relationships. Acting right equals right-living with God. Loving God and loving my neighbor is the test.

So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. …. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test.1 John 3:7-10

We need a new reality

Much of life is an illusion. We think we believe something but it is not true. We need a new reality. And the good news is that we have one in Jesus. That new reality is we have a life in Jesus that will never end.

That leads to be bold beyond what we would expect in our old life. If we know what  He wants, we can ask for it knowing for sure He will do it. We know He is listening. We know He cares. We know He has the power to do it. And so … it is ours.

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours. 1 John 5:13-15

Who we really are

It is interesting how some people just don’t “get it”, i.e., understand what we are up to in God. We know we are His children. We know He loves us and how amazing that is. We know he is not angry or upset. We know He has our best interest at heart. We know He cares beyond anything we can imagine. We know He is in a good mood, all the time.

We really are the children of God. Really. No doubt about it.

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to. 1 John 3:1

May I know who I am in Him.

The original message

John simple got it. The message from God our Father and our Messiah Jesus is that we should love one another. That is it. There is nothing else. In fact, the way we know that we have been transfered to the way of life is that we love one another. If we don’t love one another, then we are as good as dead. Jesus was clear on this. John got it.

May I walk in His love and love everyone I meet today.

For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other. 1 John 3:11

Shut down self-criticism

Self criticism, even when it is deserved, leaves us crippled. We hobble around on crutches pretending no one sees. They see we can’t get out of ourselves. They see our selfishness.

Practicing love, getting outside of ourselves, shuts self criticism right down. God knows us and He knows what we need. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He doesn’t condemn us but shows His steadfast love day after day. He puts it into practice.

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. 1 John 3:18-20

May we love like God loves. May we put it into practice.

I can see clearly now

How do you sum things up in God? What is the main message? What is the elevator speech? John lets us know. He heard it directly from Jesus.

It is so very nice to have light and be able to see clearly. Stumbling around in the dark is no fun at all. God is pure light. In Him, we can see everything. He is pure. We can count on Him. It is His character.

That is the message.

This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. 1 John 1:5

Staying ready

We are children of God but we are becoming like Jesus. Being children isn’t the end game. Sometimes we think it is. But the end game is not to be children but to become fully mature in God.  

Jesus life is our model. And our hope is that when we see Him, we will become like Him. And for that we have hope and look forward to His coming.

The focus now is staying ready. We should run the race knowing that we will gain the prize. The purity of His life becomes our standard. Are we there yet? No. Do we run to gain the prize? Yes!!!

But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own. 1 John 3:2-3

The claim

Jesus is the light of the entire world. What He said and did guides us along the path we take every day. He directed us to love God and to love one another. That is the light. To live otherwise is a desperate lie. This is the life we share with one another.

May I live in the light that Jesus sheds on my path. May I not wander off into darkness.

If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin. 1 John 1:6-7

He is Life

The Apostle John was the disciple Jesus loved. He was one of the 72, one of the 12, one of the 3 and the one whom Jesus loved. He knew Jesus better than anyone else. He saw it all “up close and personal”.

What does he tells us about all of this? Jesus is the Word of Life. He is Life itself.

And, we share it with John. That is the mystery of God’s goal for us. John has no advantage here.

From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 1 John 1:1-2