"Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did." 1 John 2:6
Welcome to week 2 of ReAwakening! We are spending this week in chapter 2 of First John.
Verse 6 seems pretty straight forward. If you're a Christian, then you should live like Jesus did when he was here. Simple. Right?
No. It's really, really difficult!
Have you sinned today? Me: Ummm, yes. About a thousand times and it's not quite 11am. What a failure! At least that's how it seems when verses like verse 6 are taken out of context.
That is why we read all of it! The Bible holds hope and forgiveness in it's totality. Early in 1 John, chapter 2, John writes, "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." 1 John 2:1-2
What Good News!!
Only Jesus was perfect and sinless. We can't begin to approach that level of worthiness. So, what's a Christian to do? We try! We pray, we study, we follow Jesus' teachings to the best of our ability. We ask for forgiveness and mercy. We show forgiveness and mercy. We rely on Christ to strengthen us in our faith. We humble ourselves before the Lord.
John, in his letter to the early church, gives advice to both new and mature followers. Regardless of where we are in our walk of faith, we will always be in need of support. Chapter 2 is filled with explanations, teachings, warnings, and encouragement.
Take this week to SOAK in the words that John offers us. Some of this is reassuring; a lot of it is familiar to those who know Jesus as their Savior. But some of what John says is hard to hear. Read it with his purpose in your heart: "I am writing this to you so that you will not sin." 1 John 2:1
I look forward to reading what you discovered during your quiet time! If you're reading this in your e-mail, click here to go to the blog and leave a comment. Come back as often as you'd like throughout the week to share your SOAK verses.
Your Partner in Ministry,
Shelly
warrior
"Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24
4 comments:
My first SOAK verse is vs 4. At first it sounds harsh, but when taken within the context of the chapter, it helps me to know that I do belong to God. I do my best to obey God's commands. So, even when I fall short, because I'm human, I know that I belong to Him. It is also a reminder that my actions should reinforce what I say. Not out of trying to earn my way to heaven, but as a way of thanksgiving, worship, and showing the world that I belong to God.
Hello there! This is my 3rd attempt! As the third time I'm trying to post something, I'm going to tighten it up!
1. Love coloring my Bible!
2. Not so successful with the soak method. Hard to have committed pens, highlighters, the color chart, and my Bible in my lap. Now add a notebook and a pen??
3. Kari has already done away with my sparkly purple pen, so this could get easier real quick. :)
4. I found chapter 2 to be contradictory (vs 7) (is it or isn't it a new commandment?).
5. I found chapter 2 to be illogical when i read chapter 3. For the"apostle of love" John sure talks a lot about sin and deception.
6. My fave part is verses 12-14. They look and read like a poem.
How you have a great meeting and i hope this posting goes through!!
*colored not committed. Good grief. ;)
I'm so glad you stuck with it! Love your comments :)
* #1 is my favorite because I'm not quite comfortable with that yet. So glad you love it - gives me hope!
* I limited my accessories to colored pencils, a pen & a notebook along with the charts & Bible. It is a lot to juggle ;)
*Yes, the old & new thing can seem contradictory. That's where my study Bible comes in handy. According to it, the commandment comes from the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18), but Jesus interpreted it in a radically new way (John 13: 34, 35; 15:13, & Matthew 5:43-48). Jesus' interpretation of the old laws/Old Testament often got him in trouble!
*Agreed, I'm leaving that 'dark part' for some other time! It's a little scary, but I guess we need to know that there were/are some people determined to undermine the church by appearing to be a part of it.
*Poetry? I like that! It's such a departure from how the rest of the chapter is written it kind of threw me for a loop. Didn't quite know what to make of it.
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