Featured Image: David and Linda Boris in the big chair at the story book playground at the Discovery Center, Binghamton, NY
This is a window into one side of a daily devotional conversation. Each day after meditating upon a verse, Mic and I texted each other the verse we were considering, and a short reflection. Here are 20 days of my daily devotional thoughts. Next week, you will get to see both sides of the conversation.
- 1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
It is really hard to fathom that we are God’s children. Listen to Zephaniah 3:17 spoken over you: “He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” To understand that our heavenly Father wants the best for us, that he is always rooting us on, and joyful to spend time with us… is so good.
- 1 John 3:2 Dear (beloved) friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be (ourselves) has not yet been made known. But we know (perfect tense) that when Christ appears (revealed), we shall be like him, for we shall see him (ourselves) as he is.
Where I have inserted (ourselves) the Greek verbs are a middle construction typically meaning “action upon oneself”. I think it is fascinating that we may have a role “making ourselves” what we become. It is exciting to think about a sure future where we will have even greater intimacy with Christ.
- 1 John 3:3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves just as he is pure.
Jesus has a pure heart. He does not work to purify himself, he simply chooses to live for his Father first. We have to be careful not to try to purify ourselves, by our own efforts. Our purity comes from putting our hope and trust in Jesus.
- 1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact sin is lawlessness.
What is sin? What is lawlessness? Not growing up in a Jewish home following the Law makes this tough to understand. There was a big stigma for Jews associated with being lawless. In fact, Jesus said that lawless ones have no part in the kingdom of heaven. So it is a big deal to equate sin and lawlessness. Essentially this is saying that if you break one part of the law (committing a sin) you are considered to “be a lawbreaker” (lawless). Only following Jesus’ Spirit will result in following the law, because only He did it perfectly.
- 1 John 3:5 But you know that He appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin.
Jesus bore our sin and its consequences: the suffering of separation from God and the disease and affliction that ultimately brings death (see Acts 8:17). Taking away our sin was a big deal, but it is finished, completed on the cross. He was sinless and selfless, a potent combination.
- 1 John 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen him or knows him.
This is a very challenging and disheartening verse. I don’t want to soften it. We need to be careful not to fool ourselves into thinking our sin is Ok. But we do need to realize that his forgiveness, love and grace is also much bigger than our failures.
- 1 John 3:7 Dear children do not let anyone lead you astray, the one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
You can look to test those who would presume to lead by looking for the evidence of righteous behavior in their life. This is not judgementalism… it is prudent.
- 1 John 3:8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
Ever stop and wonder what the devil’s work looks like today? I suspect that among Christians it is largely to undermine the authority of scripture and to distract us from being obedient to actually do what scripture says.
Certainly sowing fear is another big area of his work during the pandemic: fear of dying, fear to get others sick, fear to go out. Sad how much fear is going around.
- 1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God.
That word “seed” in Greek is “sperma” the same word Jesus used in the parable of the sower. Biological seed. It is also the word for descendent (of Abraham, David, etc.). The idea is that when we said, “yes” to Jesus, God has placed something in us that, like an acorn, is full of the potential to transform. It “remains” in us. This is that same word translated “abide” in the parable of the vine in John 15 (Greek: meino). God’s Spirit abiding in us makes us unable to continue in sin. By faith I trust that the Holy Spirit will uproot my sin! It may take some time, but my sin will not be able to persist. That gives me some comfort because I believe that the Holy Spirit is more powerful than my selfish desires.
- 1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
“Doing what is right” is what it means to practice righteousness. Jesus said to Love God and to Love People and that this summarizes The Law. So now John is going to circle back and try to explain how to love one another because this is the key to righteousness. Righteousness is only achieved by cultivating a heart of love.
- 1 John 3:11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another.
Mic, I am very impressed by the man of God that you have become. It is an honor to get to share God’s word together daily. It has been a real blessing.
- 1 John 3:12 Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one, and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous.
As someone with a brother who had a pretty messed up relationship growing up… I wonder about what really happened to these two. I suspect this relationship between Cain and Abel was very broken, partly because the devil focused all his malice upon these two. Who else did Satan have to mess with? Can you imagine having to put up with Satan’s undivided attention? If not for God’s grace and protection, I suspect any of us could be driven mad too in this scenario. Sobering to realize.
- 1 John 3:13 Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.
This word in Greek translated “surprised” is more like “amazed or in wonder”, rather than surprised like a sneak attack. The point is to expect hatred and have a sober attitude that allows you to respond with love and grace, rather than be in shock and react poorly. I do think that we naturally, and perhaps naively, expect that if we treat people well we will receive the same in return. John is warning us not to expect reciprocation, but we can still be delighted when it does happen.
- 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
This love is agape love, not the selfish worldly take, take, take love. This sort of other-centered grace-filled love only comes from Jesus. Death here is characterized by an empty unfulfilled longing, which Mic, you describe well, as a separation from God. Since God is love, if you have no glimmer of his love in you, you are lost and spiritually dead.
- 1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates a brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
Cain showed that one extreme result of hatred is murder, but Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that hating IS murdering in your heart. John reinforces this here by saying that God’s eternal life cannot dwell in you if you cannot let go of your malice. My conclusion is that God has no such malice in his Spirit, in fact it is the antithesis of His being. God is a lover, not a murderer…. As John said earlier: in Him is no darkness at all.
- 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
This act defines agape love. We didn’t really know such a thing was possible until Jesus did it. Sacrifice was a thing, but complete selfless sacrifice has never been seen like this. I think it is sheer hyperbole to think that any way we would “lay down our life” for one another might compare, but certainly Jesus example should motivate us!
- 1 John 3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person!
Upon reflection, it is a little too easy to try to limit this profound call to action, by deciding whether or not someone else really has a “need” rather than asking whether Jesus wants to meet their request. If God is willing, then I need to be too! I don’t want to be like the Pharisee asking: “who is my neighbor?”, when Jesus says to “love your neighbor as yourself”. It is never good to be trying to find a way out rather than simply doing the right thing.
- 1 John 3:18 Dear children let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
The word translated “speech” is glossa in Greek, which literally means tongue, but figuratively means languages, like when we talk about “speaking in tongues”. The emphasis of the first half of the verse is speaking of the mechanics of verbal communication. Perhaps I personally over emphasize this spoken love over other ways of showing love like gifts, service, hospitality, hugs, prayer etc. There is a dangerous hypocrisy of saying we love someone but not following through when they need us to act.
- 1 John 3:19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and we set our hearts to rest in his presence:
Awkward place for a verse break! Here is my literal translation of verses 19-20 from Greek: “And by this (loving in action and truth) we know that we are from out of the truth and before his face we will convince our hearts, that if our hearts should condemn us with guilt, that God is greater than our hearts and he knows all things.”
I find it comforting that God judges me and not my warped conscience and sense of guilt. I have peace that Jesus dealt with all my sin, even the stuff I am still struggling with and actively feel guilty about.
- 1 John 3:20 …whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
It is good to remember that we can’t fool God. Even our self-deception, what we think is true that is false, does not fool God. It is uncomfortable to realize that He knows us completely until we understand how deep his love is for us (Ephesians 3:16-19).
Atheist to Elder 