In order to do what I do each Sunday morning, I have developed a routine that I maintain. When the alarm goes off I get up and put the dog out. I make a pot of coffee and feed the dog. While I will enjoy a cup of coffee I will not eat anything before…
Category: 1 John
How to Know That You Know:: 3
The third test John provides is a difficult one. In chapter 2, verses 9-11, he wrote, “If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause…
How to Know That You Know:: 2
Picking up where I left off yesterday, John offered three tests in the second chapter of his first epistle that help us know whether or not we know God. The first test that John offers is a heartfelt desire to obey God. “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his…
How to Know that You Know:: 1
Are you a “name dropper?” Do you know any name droppers? You know the kind. They are always bringing up who they went to school with or who they recently met for lunch. In the course of normal conversation, a name dropper will find a way to share something they said to or did with…
What to Do with Our Sins:: 3
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins…
What to Do with Our Sins:: 2
I think we’re clear on the fact that we are sinners by nature and by choice. Enough has been said about that. The trick is to determine where we go from there. I believe that every Christian needs to be familiar with this important verse in the Bible. “But if we confess our sins to…
What to Do With Our Sins
The other day I was waiting in line for my name to be called. Seated behind me was a grandmother accompanied by her four year old granddaughter. As I waited, the grandmother continually scolded the little girl. As a parent, I have learned that there is a difference between a child behaving like a child…
God is Light:: 2
1 John 1:7 states that if we walk in God’s light, two things are true. First, we have fellowship with one another. In other words, we don’t just walk in God’s light, we walk in God’s light together. Which brings me to an important question. Do we value Christian community? We never sin in isolation….
God is Light
The creation account in Genesis chapter 1 states that the first thing God created was light. Light exposed darkness and became the divisor between day and night. From that point forward, light is an important metaphor in the Bible. It is used 139 times in the Old Testament, and its impact is carried forward into…
Keeping in Stride:: 3
This week I’ve been posting reflections on the prologue of 1 John. John proclaimed that Christ is the Word of Life. His second point was that Christ is the basis of our fellowship with God and with one another. 1 John 1:3 says, “We proclaim to you what we ourselves has actually seen and heard…