Saturday, October 29, 2005

Today Our Daily Bread 1 John 2

The scripture passages were taken from Rock Church's suggested daily reading schedule for the month of October. Comments are from, ~ Lena's Journalin' ~ which are Lena's own personal notations on each day’s passages.

1 John 2:1-29
The Test of Knowing Christ
1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
The Test of Knowing Him
3 Now by this we know that we know Him,
if we keep His commandments.
4He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him.
6He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 7Brethren, F1 I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. F2 8Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. 9He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.
10He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Their Spiritual State
12 I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. 13I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father. 14I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.
Do Not Love the World
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. 1
7And the world is passing away, and the lust of it;
but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Deceptions of the Last Hour
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the F3 Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. 20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. F4
21I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Let Truth Abide in You
24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is the promise that He has promised us--eternal life. 26These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.
27But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will F5 abide in Him. The Children of God28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when F6 He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
Footnotes
F1: 2:7 NU-Text reads Beloved.
F2: NU-Text omits from the beginning.
F3: 2:18 NU-Text omits the.
F4: 2:20 NU-Text reads you all know.
F5: 2:27 NU-Text reads you abide.
F6: 2:28 NU-Text reads if.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
What an awesome and full passage of scriptures! If any felt the lack of clarity or direction, here you have it.
"Abide" is mentioned over and over again. It is speaking of our continual faith that is lived out in a daily walk with Christ that only began when you received revelation and accepted Christ, but that faith cannot and must not stop there. To "abide" is to live, to stay. Without abiding in Christ, there is no activated spiritual life with truth. You cannot "accept Christ once" and not walk as He walked and commands us to follow Him in. Those who are identified as His, also belong to Him. They don’t know of, have heard of, and are acquainted with- Him. No they are daily a part of His life and He is a vital part of their lives. His word is their direction for everyday life, they depend on it, they count on it, and have decided to do it, knowing it is vital to their eternal life and that of others they can influence with it. They do it on purpose, knowing that when they do it changes them, and as they change, they can also by firsthand experience change their world that God has placed them in.
There’s a scripture in Acts (17:26And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being,..) - we’ve read it lately. It says, God has set the boundaries of the earth….He places men on earth in specific, strategic places at specific times for specific reasons. (side note- God does not do anything unplanned! He is THE DIVINE STRATEGIST.) You live where you live and work with the people you work with, and go to church in your specific church, for strategic reasons.
It is much better when a person stays put in a job, a neighborhood, one church, one family, etc for their appointed by God time, because they will grow there, become strong (because they are not always uprooted and transplanted- weakening the growth structure), flourish, join strength with others, (which empowers the church or neighborhood, etc), and it gives the element of time and proving so that others may see the developed Christ in me.
If I move from house to house, job to job, church to church- I’m hiding, I’m not being real before anyone, I’m not proving God. I’m uncommitted to Him and to people.
God sets the members in the body and in the earth as it pleases Him. That does not mean it will always please us. But the point here is being set. This is a stable position, that both God and people can depend on. The world has got to be able to depend on someone or something. The Christ they’ll learn to depend on is seen or not seen in you.
Do you ever wonder why in the NT it is always speaking of the end times being near, the last days are here etc? Doesn’t it seem kind of funny when Jesus had just come and mankind had only barely begun to receive the promise and free gift of salvation that the texts speak of it being "the end"? Also, how Jesus had just come to earth, done His perfect work, left for heaven to intercede for the work He left in our hands, and now everyone says, "He’s coming soon"?
I believe in the 2nd physical coming of Christ and I also believe these are the last days.
I’d like to share a few considerations of the spiritual nature of these words that would apply to us whether He returns physically in our lifetime on earth or not.
He’s coming soon- Everytime a heart hears of Jesus and of His great love for mankind, and of His work on the cross for sin, and every-time that one person receives the gift of eternal life, through the freewill of their being believing and receiving Him, and that person decides to give their life over to Christ’s Lordship and continual influence through the groweth of their faith in the word- Christ has appeared, has COME to them! He’s coming soon! Amen!
These are the last days-How many days do you have on earth? All would say, only God knows, right? That is truth, because He knows everything, even the choices we will make with our free-wills that effect the length of our lives here on earth, to either cut our lives short or even extend our lives.
In the light of eternity; Eternity is where God was, then in it He also created man, man was and is inside of the eternal realm, but is alive on earth (now about 6,000 years ago), and where man will go to be with God or be away from God- forever.
How long is one person’s life? No matter the length of days, how long is that life, in the light of eternity? Not very long at all, right? (and for us to think of this is very hard, because we have been taught to think a long life is 80+ years). I believe the Bible says our life on earth is but a vapor, it will seem just like smoke when we pass on to the next life and see it as it was/is. So God gave us earthly life in this time period we are in right now, fully Alive in 2005. We live in Florida or California or wherever. We are here for a time, and the time is oh so short- about like a vapor, because that is how God sees it. We, as Jesus was, were sent here by God, for a purpose in a specific period of time. The time it takes for us to get that, prepare for it, and then live it out, is very short. Once we get it and do it, the days seem so much shorter than before, we sense an urgency to use everyday for God’s plan, for His purpose. We wonder if the people He’s set us around will be able to get it in the timeframe we have left to be around them, we now almost regret not having known before this time, but forgetting regret, we have got to use all we have left for God’s glory!-These ARE the last days. (this is what our hearts constantly cry out to us, with urgency we operate daily, making "the most" of each day for the Kingdom of God, as much as we can do for the time we have left here, we do). There’s a realization that what we once worked so hard for, acceptance of people, money to buy things that make us feel successful and comfortable, prestige, position….these things are no longer of so much importance to us, because our days are numbered and however many we have are not enough to make His work known and to be who he created us to be right now today where we are set by God. Now we can see a little bit of what He wants done while we are here, and we so desire to be a part, to do our part- of changing the world or the small piece of it, that He’s set us in, Amen.
Jesus is coming Soon & These ARE the last days!

Romans 16:19-20 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Acts 17:6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.