Remember What You Already Heard
When we started this bible study in the introduction we talked about our great need to be reminded of truths we have already heard. I shared with you a quote from a book I read during our Christmas break that I am about to share with you again because great truths bear repeating. The greater they are, the more they need to be repeated. Repetition emphasizes their importance and aids in our remembrance of them. The quote was this:
If you are honest, you have to admit that you know far more than you are presently put into practice. If you never heard another sermon, you would have enough biblical truth to work on applying for the rest of your life. You may feel spiritually satisfied by the fact that you go to church every Sunday, that you have your devotions every day, and that you go to the Bible study every week. But if you’re not applying what you are really reading and hearing, then you are only kidding yourself. You’re forgetting the whole point of looking into God’s word in the first place….Every time you hear the word of God preached, you are training yourself to either obey or disobey God. – Ken Ramey, Expository Listening
John isn’t going to share with us any new commands tonight. Instead, John is going to remind us of an old command that we heard from the beginning, Christ’s command for us to love one another. Apart from obeying this command we can’t walk with Christ and say we fellowship with him. That’s how important it is. It takes us right back to 1 John 1:6-7 that we learned near the beginning of this study:
“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Strive to Recognize Love
We are going to talk tonight about walking in the light and walking in the darkness again and how it relates to walking in love. When we walk in love, we are walking in the light and when we walk in hatred, we are walking in the darkness. Walking in hate may be too strong of a word for some. We may be unloving at times but it is difficult to call ourselves hateful. However there are no shadows in God’s light, no grey areas in his light. We cannot shade the truth. When we are acting unloving towards others, we are acting hateful.
The difficulty is in defining what walking in love looks like. Many genuinely loving actions can easily appear as unloving. For example, when a parent disciplines a child through spanking or grounding. The first thing out of that child’s mouth is often, “You don’t love me.” A child in his or her immaturity cannot see his parent’s actions as loving when his parents are trying to protect the child from running out in the street or running with knives or hanging out and being influenced with the wrong crowd. A parent’s love is often misinterpreted as unloving and hateful.
The opposite is also true. We often call actions as acts of love that are really unloving beneath. We mask our evil or harmful intentions. We may not see them as evil or harmful for we often disguise these actions from ourselves to justify them to pass our conscience. But if we would but walk in the light we would see that what we would call love is sometimes most unloving towards others. Take for example, sex before marriage. Most today would call this as showing love to one another, and yet they are seeking the fulfillment of their own interests and immediate sexual gratification instead of looking out for the interests of the other person and putting them ahead of their own. They put the woman at the possibility of pregnancy, they create emotional attachments that are not intended to last, they play games, there are risks of diseases, then there is the break-up that often is much like a divorce because of the emotional and physical investments made in one another, the rejection. This so called love is often lust disguised as love. For many who never have known genuine love, they can’t recognize the false Spirit. They are easily fooled because they have never seen true love to compare to see through the signs of deceit.
There are also many other actions we would call love that are really not loving at their root. When we don’t discipline a child because it seems too cruel. We would define this as being loving yet God would define it as being hateful.
Whoever spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24)
No one likes to see his child or loved one suffer even if that temporary suffering is meant for their long term or eternal good. This is what makes sharing the gospel difficult at times. It makes us feel uncomfortable to share difficult truths, to talk about hell and judgment to others because it appears as unloving to others. But is it? No, it is the most loving thing we can do to warn people of impending judgment. I am reminded of a quote by Charles Spurgeon that I saw on Facebook this week it says:
“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned or unprayed for.”
Sharing the gospel is the most loving thing we can do. I just want us see that we have great difficult sometimes recognizing love when it walks among us.
I wrote a poem a few years ago that comes to mind called Teach Me to Love. It was more of a prayer then a poem but I wanted to share it with you.
Teach me to love deeply
Beyond the surface of what I see
Teach me to love enthusiastically
Emphasizing all the freedom that true love brings.
Teach me to love unconditionally
When rejection is all I see
Teach me to love purely
Allowing you to meet all my needs
Teach me to love willfully
by softening my heart while bending my knees
Teach me to love obediently
Even those I would call my enemies
Teach me to love sacrificially
When only your eyes will see
Teach me to love generously
Out of the abundance that flows from thee
Teach me to love wisely
When temptation would bring me to my knees
Teach me to love righteously
Because not all love flows from thee
Teach me to recognize love
When it’s not what I expected to see
Far too often I have seen love
And fought him as my enemy
Teach me to love
by captivating and refining my taste.
Sin no longer can hold or seduce me
when my heart is satisfied in your embrace
Teach me to love others
by helping me abide in you
Allowing your love to move me
as I bind my heart to follow you.
We need Jesus to teach us to love. The last verse Penny ended with in 1 John 2:6 said:
“whoever says he abides in him out to walk in the same way which he walked.”
How did Jesus walk? He walked in love. We know what genuine love looks like thanks to Jesus.
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. (1 John 3:16)
As Christ walked in love, so we too are called to walk in love, especially to our brethren. Before we begin to take a deeper look at 1 John 2:6-11 I want to remind you of what we learned last week, the connection between our keeping God’s commands and God’s love being perfected in us.
Allow God’s commandments to make you perfect in love by obeying them
1 John is all about communion with God, how to have and maintain fellowship with God. Back in 1 John 1:5 we learned that God is light and in him there is no no darkness at all and that if we would have fellowship with God and others then we must walk in the light. John develops this idea of knowing God and sharing communion with God in chapter two when he says,
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him, whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” – 1 John 2:3-6
Two things we know so far is that knowing God means walking his light and obeying his commands. There is no knowing God apart from obeying him. That is what we learned last week. Here is the second thing we learned last week. God’s love is perfected in us through our obedience to his commandments. Obeying God’s commandments perfects, completes, optimizes, polishes up, brushes up Gods love in us. God’s commandments make us more loving when we obey them. In this sense, God’s commands help restore that broken image of God in us. God’s commandments help mold us into the image of Christ. They perfect his image within us and help us to know God because through them we imitate Christ and begin to act like God.
Obedience Provides Opportunities to Know God in Deeper Ways
Something very powerful begins to happen inside our hearts when we begin to obey God’s commands, imitating Christ and acting in the image of God, we share God’s heart in a powerful way. We understand God’s pain when we do good and others persecute us and we keep doing good anyway. We understand Christ’s suffering when we suffer the sins of others wordlessly without retaliating. We begin to feel and be burdened for God’s love for the lost sinners in this world as we begin to plead with them to turn away from their sins so they are not destroyed. We feel God’s disgust for sin as we bandage up the wounded, the divorced, the broken, the innocent children caught in them in the middle. The more we obey God’s commands, the more we know him, truly know him in a way that is impossible to know him otherwise as we begin to walk as Jesus walked in Jesus’ shoes. There is saying that you never truly know someone until you walk in their shoes for a day. There is a lot of truth in that. We cannot exactly walk in God’s shoes, they are a bit big for us, but God commands us to walk in Christ’s shoes every day for a lifetime and by doing this we come to know God more and we come to be molded into Christ’s very image as we are perfected in love.
How The Law Perfects Us in Love
God’s purpose for us to become more like Christ which is to become more loving, to be made perfect in love.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29
We talked a few weeks ago about how the essence of sin boils down to a failure to love God and others. When we sin we fail to love God as we should and we fail to love others as we should. This is the essence of sin. It is a heart problem. We love that which we should not love and we love to degrees that we should not love. We love too much. We love too little. We love what we should hate. Our hearts have gone wild.
Sin is evil. The word evil simply means harmful. Sin is harmful It is harmful to ourselves and it is harmful to others. It is not so much harmful to God as it is to us. God loves us and in that sense you can say that we hurt God when we sin. When God made himself manifest to us through Christ, we, mankind hurt God to the very best of our ability by our sin through the crucifixion of Christ.
God’s commandments are intended to perfect us in love. Love is the fulfillment of all ten commandments.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Galatians 5:14
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. – Romans 13:8
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. – Matt. 7:12
For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. – Romans 13:9-10
Let’s take a look at the ten commandments:
The first four aid us in loving God.
- I am the Lord, your God.
- Thou shall bring no false idols before me.
- Do not take the name of the Lord in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
The last 6 aid us in loving man:
- Honor thy father and thy mother.
- Thou shall not kill/murder†.
- Thou shall not commit adultery.
- Thou shall not steal††.
- Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- Thou shall not covet‡ your neighbor’s wife (or anything that belongs to your neighbor).
There are some who would say we are not under the law anymore and we don’t have to worry about keeping the 10 commandments. The commandments are oppressive and to keep them would put us back under the bondage of the law which we have been freed from in Christ. My favorite response to this comes from one of Paul Washer’s sermons How to Abide in Christ. It’s really a great sermon and you can google it if you would like to hear the entire length. Here is the part that stood out to me in speaking about the commandments of God:
When it says we are free from the law, what do you think that means? That we no longer have to obey God? Or does it mean that we are just supposed to love another? But here lies a big problem. People have some really disturbed views on love. So what are we talking about? I mean if we say we no longer need the law, that we don’t have to think about it, we don’t need to read it or anything, we would have to literally cut out the book of Psalms and throw it away. Do you realize that? Because the book of Psalms, look at “I delight in your law.” “Your precepts are true.” What are we going to do?
Or as one person said one time in a meeting I was holding. I was conferencing and I was talking about the law. Someone raised their hand and said, “We are free from the law! And you are trying to put us under the bondage of the law, that oppresses us.” And I said, “Wow. Ok, let me ask you a question. You just told me that the law of God is oppressive. It is restricting. It retrains you and puts you in bondage. Ok. Let’s just go over some of the laws and you tell me which one of these is restraining you from doing what you want to do. Let’s see. You shall have no other God’s before me. Are you mad about that because that is restraining you from having other gods? Let’s try another one. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Is that oppressive to you? You shall not lie.” And I just went down through all the laws of God that I could remember. And in the end I am sitting there and the man starts to slump in his chair because he knew what was happening. I said, “If these beautiful laws are oppressive to you and restraining what you really want to do, what kind of evil person are you?”
Law vs. Spirit
The commandments of God perfect us in love. The difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament commandment for us to love God and love one another is that one is the letter and duty, where the other we are called to abide by the Spirit of love that controls us. We don’t do it drudgingly because we have to, but we keep them and love God and others because we want to out of the Spirit of love. She who loves you, truly loves you is not going to steal from you. She is not going to murder you. She is not going to lie to you or commit adultery with your husband. Why? Simply because she loves you and does not want to see you get hurt. She who loves is not under the law. She doesn’t need the law to tell her what to do, the spirit of love guides her and directs. The law is made for law breakers. The law kept us inline as a guardian until Christ came. (Gal. 3:24-29) Christ calls us to love others because he loved us and because we love him. When we can’t love others of ourselves, our love for Christ motivates us and his love for us. We are once again motivated by love.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. – John 14:15
We are made perfect in love through our obedience. How do we grow in love? By obeying God’s commandments. How do we grow in knowledge of God? By obeying God’s commandments.
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
Who is John speaking to?
Brethren,
Dear Friends -NIV
Beloved – ESV
Brethren – KJV
G80 Adelphos – (a) a brother, whether born of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother. (b) having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people, or countryman, (c) any fellow or man. (d) a fellow believer, united together by the bond of affection. (e) brethren in Christ, his brothers by blood, all men, apostles, Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly place.
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” – Gal. 6:10
I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
What is the message they heard from the beginning?
“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. – 1 John 3:11
And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. (2 John 1:5)
This is the greatest commandment:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:36-40
It’s not a new commandment but an old one and can be found in the Old Testament.
You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. – Leviticus 19:17
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might – Deuteronomy 6:4
John isn’t telling us anything new but reminding us what we have already heard and often so easily forget that we are called to walk in love towards God and others, especially towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. John starts this chapter with Brethren, causing us to remember who we are to one another. John is speaking to us as beloved brethren. We are called to love our enemies and our neighbors but there is a special love that we are called to practice among our brothers and sisters here at church that is intended to be so extraordinary that it distinguishes us and causes others to take note and recognize us as Christians by the way we love.
8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
At the same time, this is a new commandment, which Jesus himself called new:
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:33-35
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13)
How is this old commandment made new?
This commandment is made new in Christ. He calls us to love others just the way that he has loved us. This is new. This commandment is true in him. Christ is our model, he exemplified this commandment by his own life and the way he loved us. We could not love others the way he loved us until he came and demonstrated his own great love to us. Now we have seen it. Now we walk in its light. The light of the knowledge of the love of God. The world had never seen such love before and by this love and sacrifice we know what genuine holy love is.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. (1 John 3:16)
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9-11)
This new commandment is not only true in Christ, it is now true in us because Christ abides in us. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of love now abides in us and rules over us as we are called to show our love for Christ by laying down our lives to follow him which includes laying down our lives to love others since this is Christ’s command to us.
Genuine love dies to self. This is the nature of true love. It places the interests of others above the interests of self. This is the love Christ taught us. Death is work at in us, so that our life, the life of Christ is at work in you.
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2Cor. 4:8-12)
…The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Christ is the light of the world and he is the true light that is already shining. It is he who dispels our darkness and guides our way. The darkness has not fully passed away yet but it is passing away. One day as we learned from our study in Revelation, there will be no more darkness and we will have no need of a sun which is but artificial light. Christ will be our light, and take his true position as light of the world. The darkness is passing away and Christ’s light is already shining through the presentation of the gospel in each of us. We are what keep the world from being totaling pitch black.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
If someone says he is in the light, that he knows God, has a relationship with God and yet hates his Christian brother you can be sure that he is still in the darkness, he is walking in the absence of light, the absence of God who is Light. There is no fellowship with God here. No knowledge of Him. The mark of a Christian is love a new found love for others especially our brothers and sisters of faith because of the new found love of Christ in us. How can one born of God who is love, hate his brother who has also been of God, who is being made in the image of God and portrays God? You cannot say you love God and yet hate God’s image. It’s illogical. The only answer would be that you have a different God in your imagination that does not align with the word of God and you do not truly know God and cannot love him.
“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:20-21)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. (1 John 5:1-2)
To walk in darkness is to walk in ignorance or in denial of God’s truth which lights our way. It’s to walk against God’s revelation and word. This is how we once walked but not any longer.
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. (Titus 3:3)
But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. – 1 Thessalonians 5:4-7
They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. – Psa. 82:5
Jesus promises us that those who follow him will never walk in darkness since we have the light of life.
Then Jesus spoke out again, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12L
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. – Isa. 9:2
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
Many would say that love is blind, but the truth is that love enables us to see. Hatred blinds us. Love enables us to see the other person whereas hatred only allows us to see ourself, how we have been wronged, offended, put out or disturbed. When we walk in the light, we are less apt to stumble. We are able to see obstacles around us and circumvent them way in advance. Love gives us a sixth sense in that it enables us to see what is really going on. Love is full of wisdom that sees the spiritual battle behind the scenes, it sees the immaturity it is dealing with, it sees the brokenness in the heart that is distorting the words when something of importance is being said but is not being said very well; love hears what often isn’t being said and responds to it instead. Love looks out for the interest of the other person instead of its own. It sees their benefit instead of its own. Love protects the other person and dies to itself so the other person can live. 1 Cor. 14
What is darkness? Hatred. What is walking in darkness? Hating. Now, if there is someone you are really upset with and you really hate them, you’re walking in darkness. “But I can’t stand them, I hate them.” Look out, look out, you’re walking in darkness. You may say you’re in the light, but you’re deceiving yourself. You’re blind; you’re stumbling along, you can’t see where you are going. The darkness has blinded your eyes. There’s nothing so blinding as hatred. When your heart is filled with bitterness and hatred toward someone, you become blind to any value or good that might exist there. You don’t want to see it.
Love is like a light, no occasion of stumbling for that man who walks in love. Love lights the path. This basically is the whole teaching of Christ and the gospel all summed up in this concept of love, and loving God, and loving each other. And really, as John said, His commandment isn’t grievous; it’s really rather wonderful. It’s very healthy to love people; it’s very unhealthy to hate. Hatred and bitterness create chemicals that have a destructive effect upon your body physically. Love produces chemicals that cause you to glow. You ever see a person in love, how they glow? The chemicals that are being created in their glands, they just, you know, brings a glow to life when you love. And when you have hatred, other chemicals eat you up, sap, take away, shrivel your skin and make you look ugly. Oh, that we would learn the simple lesson of love. – F.B. Hole?
It is true that love covers a multitude of sins but remember it also confronts them in discipline when necessary as we talked about in the beginning of the lesson. Love knows when to overlook and when to gently confront in the best interest of the other individual.
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8
Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. – Proverbs 10:12
What makes loving Christians difficult? Many times it is because we do have a higher expectation for Christians then we do for those who are not Christians. When our brother or sister hurts us it is much more painful than when someone else hurts us.
Our love for God is measured by our love for other Christians.
“Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays.” – Andrew Murray
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. – 1 Peter 1:22
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Darkness blinds people. Hatred blinds people. When people walk in darkness they can’t plan their steps. They can’t see and don’t understand what causes them to stumble and far. This describes many people in difficult relationships. They walk in selfishness, pride and hatred although they can’t see this. They don’t know why they have problems in their marriage. They don’t know why they are always getting into arguments and fights, the same ones over and over again. They don’t know where they are going, they have no direction, no vision. They don’t know why their relationships fail or they drive people away. Instead of reconciling a relationship they shrug their shoulders and say a cuss word and go about their way. This is the way they walk in hatred but they can’t see it.
Now I am speaking about those who are lost. There are those who believe they are saved in the church who also walk in darkness. Even though they hear the messages on Sunday and attend church regularly and never miss a bible study, they are the most unloving people in their homes, in their families and at church. They may come across as sweet and kind but let the time of testing come and it will, let them be offended, let them be corrected, let them be accidently neglected, let them be misunderstood, let them be hurt and the depth of their faith begins to show, their genuineness comes out or shows how very shallow their faith is. Instead of being patient, long-suffering, bearing with one another, practicing love when under trial, all this goes out the window and no longer applies. They turn hateful, accusing, defensive, divisive, aloof as they abandon the church rather than reconcile.
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. -1 Cor. 6:7-8
A brother wronged is more unyielding than a fortified city; disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel. – Pro. 18:19
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. – Eph 4:17-19
If we would be made perfect in love, then we must choose to show love and practice love at all times and all opportunities, especially when we have been offended by a brother or a sister. It is at these times that instead of walking in darkness and going blind with all the commandments of God flying out the window as inapplicable at this point of time knowing that surely God would understand and not expect us to obey them right now, instead our eyes would grow sharp to see what is really going on for fear of injuring our brother or sister in any form or manner while we may be wincing. Times like this when it feels like we are walking in darkness, not knowing how to handle a situation, would in reality cause us to draw as close to God’s light as we can before we take even one step or breath one word. We refuse to walk in darkness without the light of God showing which way to go. Our first consideration is our love for God and how he might be glorified in our response that we would not bring shame to his name. Our next response is closely tied to it is how can we act most lovingly towards this person and in their best interest? How can we pursue true peace and unity? How can we grow in love through this situation? Seeing such difficult circumstances as opportunities to practice love to grow in it and to gain a deeper knowledge of God and of Christ will deepen our walk and show our faith to be genuine when tested and tried as we seek to grow in sincere love, loving one another deeply, from the heart.
| Our Goal:
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. – 1 Peter 1:22
|
