Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
You want proof? God proved His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, His Son, Jesus Christ, died for us (Romans 5:8). We see in 1 John 3:1-3 that God's love was lavished upon us. That means full and overflowing, like more than was actually necessary, so to speak. He gave and gave and gave, and still gives His love to those of us who are also now His children.
We will one day "appear with Him" (Revelation 21:1-4). The euphoria of that day to come can only be imagined in an earthly example which, of course, could never really measure up...
The Sultan of B, when he makes official public appearances often has, besides the crown prince and the crown prince's brother, and the Sultan's many nobles, two of his youngest children, a very young son and daughter. They 'appear' with him and this is an honor.
There is a certain demeanor and decorum for these distinguished people to acquire if they expect to appear with His Majesty the Sultan. So too, we who are the children of God, need to be circumspect. If we have "this hope" of appearing with Jesus some day, we have to behave. More than that, we must "purify ourselves as Jesus is pure" (see 1 John 5:18).
Our privilege of appearing with Jesus in all His glory in time to come, is all because of God's lavish love on us in the first place. When we become God's child through faith in Jesus Christ and because of His love to us, He gave Jesus so that "whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). This is what God's lavish love did for us! Forgiveness of sins and everlasting life!!
Because of that lavish love, and our imminent appearance with Him in due time, we too have a "code of behavior" to be responsible to adhere to. In Jesus is no sin. If we are God's children we are to follow Jesus's example to be "holy as He is holy" and to stop sinning.
We have the Holy Spirit to help convict us when and where necessary and have the power to overcome our sin bent nature (1 John 3:4-6). Ask for such help to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's convictions of sin in our life and then repent, renounce and confess to God in Jesus's name.
When we deliberately keep on sinning it will show that we are not "living in Him". Let us do what is right and be righteous as God our Heavenly Father is. Those who keep on sinning are said to be from the devil who sinned from the beginning (1 John 3:7-10). The Son of Man, Jesus, appeared to destroy the devil's work. If a person is born of God, he or she will NOT continue to sin (vs 6). We've been born again of God's seed, we cannot go on sinning (eg. apple seeds produce apples, similarly God's righteous seed produces righteousness).
The way to gauge if someone is born of God or born of the devil is if they keep on sinning or not. (Of course God is the ultimate Judge of who is and isn't His child but we can get an idea of it.) The devil's work is to cause us all to sin and to turn away from God and His holy standards. As children of God, who have God's divine power and nature indwelling us, we are potentially enabled to choose to make every effort to live for God and to "be holy as He is holy" (1 Peter 1:15, 16). When we are busy with these endeavors we can forestall Satan's wiles and so live for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank Him and God, your Heavenly Father, then, for His lavish love which empowers and triggers all this to happen from the 'get go'.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
When we walk as Jesus walked we will conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to God. We will be able to overcome the evil one due to Jesus's victory over death, sin and Satan. We will have strength for overcoming because of the word of God that lives in us. There is much in this world to overcome.
Idols, the love of them, will attempt to crowd out our love for our Heavenly Father. They will jockey for position on our hearts and minds so says John in 1 John 2:15-17. Idols will have many different shapes, sizes and forms. This is not referring to those made of wood, gold, silver or bronze, per se but does include them, definitely. I'm referring more to the love of the world and anything in the world, such as the "cravings of sinful man; the lust of the eyes, the boasting of what a person has or does".
When we fix our eyes on those things wanting to "fit in" to society and with our peer groups, to feel accepted or for one hundred other reasons; that becomes our god. It is necessary to remember that the "world and its desires pass away". What will be left in it's place for you?
There's nothing wrong with achieving certain goals in life but when they become our 'be all and end all' without regard to God, the love of the Father is not in that person. It is displaced by that object and becomes an idol to that person.
But praise the Lord, the man "who does the will of God lives forever"; he is an over comer. He has made God his god; or rather, his God; capital 'G'. Put Him first in your lives.
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness..."
Matthew 6:33
"Those who honor God, God will honor."
1 Samuel 2:30
1 John 2:18-19 are very similar in thought to 2 Peter 2:19-22. Some of the people who gathered together with the believers, know about the truth but they really hadn't accepted it personally, for themselves. That is why verse 19 of 1 John 2 asserts, "...they did not really belong to us" therefore, "they went out from us."
The 2nd Peter verses use the terms "dog" and "pig". In the Old Testament Jewish laws (Leviticus 11:2, 7, 26 and Deuteronomy 14:8), these two animals are listed among the unclean animals which they were not to eat. Emphasis here in 2 Peter is on the idea of their 'uncleanness'. This indicates that these people were not genuine children of God. They 'knew their stuff' so they could act like one on the surface and even be good at the acting. However, when the rubber hit the road, their true colors became evident; they are actually "anti-Christs" (1 John 2:18). False teachers. False preachers. People posing as children of God. They do not belong among God's people.
God graciously allows John to warn us all to beware of such people. Ask your Heavenly Father for wisdom and discernment to ferret these people out. Be on your guard.
Those of us who are children of God "have an anointing from the Holy One". (Read 1 John 2:20-27). This Holy One can help us remain true to God, and to the gospel as we first heard it. He also teaches us to discern the true and the false. We therefore have a responsibility towards God our Father and to His Son, Jesus Christ, to remain in Him, to follow the Way, the Truth and the Life; life that is eternal.
A way to detect who the "liar...and antichrist" is, is, according to verse 22, the one "who denies the Father and the Son". Those who are true acknowledge the "Son and therefore have the Father also". Let us remain "in Him" and not be turned aside to the "counterfeit".
Having gotten that straightened out in our minds and hearts, take a look at the next two verses (1 John 2:28-29) where John encourages his readers to "continue in Him." To continue all the way until Jesus's coming. When Jesus comes we will not be "ashamed to meet Him". We will meet Him boldly, confidently. We will not have to hide, not that you really could, as Adam and Eve and Jonah of the Old Testament times attempted to do to no avail.
A big part of this "continuing in Him" is to do what is right. As followers of Jesus Christ the righteous, we too need that characterization. Remove idols from our lives, be overcomers, and remain in Him. Let us continue in Him. Let us do what is right according to Jesus's righteousness and so be found faithful to God's truth all the days of our life. Jesus is coming soon. Press on.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
The theme from Fellowship With Father and Son as seen in the first chapter of 1 John about sinning and confessing those sins so we can have God's forgiveness of sins and purification therefrom resulting in fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, continues here in 1 John 2:1-6. John writes that he writes so that we will be made aware and NOT sin. However, if we do, then Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, is our Advocate with His Father.
"Father, these are the ones who have been made righteous in Your sight (2 Corinthians 5:21) through My "atoning sacrifice for sins" (vs 2).
John goes on to say that #1, he encourages his readers not to sin; and #2 we need to obey God's Word. These two aspects will show that we are truly in God's family. We "must walk as Jesus did".
Ever hear of the acronym 'WWJD', meaning "What would Jesus do?" It sounds quite like walking as Jesus did. It is a good question to ask ourselves daily--multiple times daily, if necessary. In so doing we can show our love for God by walking obediently according to His Word and not according to our own or society's definition and interpretation of God's ways. Jesus is our Supreme Example of how to please God and as we imitate Him we make "God's love truly complete" through the process of sanctification within us as part of our spiritual DNA.
The light of Jesus needs to shine from us (1 John 2:7-14). When we walk with Jesus (vs 6), walking as He did, then we can shine out to those around us. Shine as individuals in our particular sphere at school, university or on the job. We need to shine collectively too, when together with our brothers and sisters-in-Christ. This creates a mighty force for God. Praise the Lord! We can work more effectively for Him and transform our sphere of life whether in our own neighborhood, at the office or even out shopping. Collectively or as individuals, let us show our precious faith to others and shine for Jesus.
When we obey God's Word, His love is complete in us, triggering our 'light' to shine. A big step forward is to love our brother and/or sister-in-Christ unconditionally (none of this malice or slander stuff against them). If and when we do not show God's love to each other John says we're going to stumble in the darkness and not know where we are going because we are blinded by it (vs 9-11). These things definitely dim the light of Jesus in us. Let us walk blameless in His sight and continue to be His light; show God's love and light clearly for Him.
The last three verses in this section (12-14) are talking to the children, fathers and young men. I can see John's loving, caring heart in what he says to them. The children are reminded that their forgiveness of sins was not achieved from their own merit but by Jesus's work which He accomplished on the cross. Jesus took the punishment for their sins and saved them from God's wrath (Romans 5:9-11).
John tells the fathers to recall that they have known "Him who is from the beginning". He tells them this twice. Fathers, you do know, so you can have confidence in Him. He is from the beginning--strong, and steady and true; you can rely on Him!
Young men...my sons, you are young men...because of Jesus's victory over death, sin and Satan, you can "overcome the evil one" with God's help. John further prompts you that you "are strong, the Word of God lives in you" and note again, "you have overcome the evil one".
My prayer for you my sons (and all who read this), is encapsulated in just that; overcome, walk as Jesus walked and so "let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify God" (Matthew 5:16). Amen.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
In the opening verses of 1 John 1, the writer, the apostle John, uses the pronouns "we", "us" and "our" very often. I take it that he is referring to the other apostles as well as himself, that they are actually eyewitnesses to Jesus's humanity on earth. They had seen Him with their eyes; their hands had touched Him; they had heard Him with their very own ears; and they had had fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-4). These are the 'credentials' then, that they have as eyewitnesses, to tell the readers about this Word of life, Jesus, to proclaim to us, boldly and confidently, about the eternal life we can have in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
If someone has only heard about an accident from someone else, there is not as much reliability than if we hear about it directly from a person who has actually seen the accident happen, play by play. So here, John the son of Zebedee is telling us he was directly in company with Jesus as He walked this earth. These are his authorization and license; we can take his word for it, this message he wants to share.
This message which he's heard directly from Jesus, he "declares to" us...."God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." This is important to John and he wants us to know it is important to each individual. John wants us to be able to have this fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This fellowship we can have through the Holy Spirit who indwells all those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior.
John writes to tell us as he wishes us to have the same joy as he and the other apostles had with such fellowship. I feel so blessed by this. Blessed that John wanted us to know and I do know now. I have experienced it; granted, nowadays, it is a more spiritual experience with the Father and Son but we also share with other brothers and sisters in Christ in a collective manner when we meet together. I too, wish to impart this knowledge to you too; sharing and telling you what John has reported. 'You', meaning my sons and anyone else reading this.
After establishing his credentials, John declares his message (1 John 1:5-10). "God is light; in Him is no darkness at all." As followers of Jesus Christ we must also live by the truth (Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the Way, the Truth..."). We find out about the Truth by reading God's Word.
As said above, "God is Light". We are to "live by the truth" and "walk in the light". Live with good conscience; open and sincerely before God and man, but especially before God as He sees our minds and hearts anyway--you can't fool Him. Let His light shine on our hearts and minds to illuminate the places that need attention. When we do so then we can have fellowship with God and subsequently with those who are our brothers and sisters-in-Christ.
Another benefit is that the "blood of Jesus, God's Son, purifies us from all sin". How can this be done? By realizing and admitting that we do have sin and repent of them. That we confess those sins to God. What is God's response? Well, because He is "faithful and just" (vs 9), He will forgive us those sins and "purify us from all". Jesus always works thoroughly. He purifies, from "all" sin, not just a few of them, but "all", from "all unrighteousness".
In Psalm 139:23, 24, we find that David wanted to live openly and honestly before God. He invited God to "search his heart and his thoughts" to test and examine him to see "if there was any offensive way in" him. He also wanted God to "lead him in the way everlasting"
Imagine you go to the doctor and the doctor gets out his stethoscope, listens to your heart and lungs; then with his other equipment he looks in your ears, eyes, down your throat; checks your knees' reflexes; then further checks with X-rays, and MRI's etc to "search your body" for disease and any other possible anomalies.
This is what David asks God to do for him spiritually. Many diseases, by the way, have a spiritual root but I won't get into that here other than to say, we need to look for root causes. This, a pastor named Henry W. Wright, has written lengthily about in his book Be In Health.
Ask God to do this for you too. When God searches and finds something and brings it to our attention through our reading of His Word and/or the conviction of the Holy Spirit indwelling us, or even through one of our brothers or sisters-in-Christ confronting us with such, what will we do about it?
1 John 1:9 gives us our recourse; "confess it". In so doing we gain God's forgiveness and His cleansing.
How well does God cleanse or purify? Try this little experiment. Grab a clean piece of white paper and a pencil. Scribble on the paper to make a patch of pencil blot. Now take an eraser and rub off those scribbles as best you can. Peer at the paper. Can you still see some of the scribble marks? Most likely you can.
This is like us trying to hide our own sins. Inevitably it can't be done; indications of those sins will pop up sooner of later. This is why we need to confess those sins to God and gain His forgiveness and purification. He says He'll "purify us from all unrighteousness". There will NOT be a single jot of incriminating evidence to be detected in His sight.
The whole point of mentioning all this is so we can then, with a pure heart and mind, have fellowship with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and with other members of His family; our very own brothers and sisters-in-Christ. God has always wanted to commune with us. Let's give Him the desire of His heart as we live by His Spirit Who indwells us.
Father God, thank You for your Word and your Holy Spirit who helps us, your children, to live openly and honestly before you so we may have fellowship with You and each other. I praise You in Jesus' Name.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
Peter says that since we look forward to being in the future "home of righteousness", that new Heaven and new Earth God is going to create, we need to be "making every effort" to prepare ourselves to live there.
Just how does Peter purport for us to do this? He enjoins us in 2 Peter 3:11-18, "to be found spotless and blameless and at peace" with God. This is Christian living.
As we read God's Word and find out what He wants or doesn't want His children to do, say or think, then, by God's grace, we submit our desires to His will and obey. Granted this is easier said than done as our human desires are often so strong. BUT, and this is a BIG but, when we refer back to 2 Peter 2:3-4, we refresh our memories that we have God's "divine power and all we need to live this Christian life and participate in God's divine nature!" Isn't that just so awesome!?
Further down in 2 Peter 3 we see that verse 17 asks us "to be on our guard". Yes. We need to be alert to the Holy Spirit's leading and His detecting areas in our thoughts and hearts of: slander, greed, sinful anger and more that can creep into us and take us out for the count. If we are "on guard" then we will be able to counterstrike with God's grace and make the effort to conduct ourselves in God's way.
Notice the word "effort". This is a struggle. Our human nature is opposed to God's nature. However, and here we see God is so good to us, He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us be victorious overcomers in our efforts to live for Him.
Our alertness has to flow over to being aware of the false teachers that would come among God's people causing much UNrighteousness. How would we know whether or not the teachings are false? By our own measure of knowledge of God and His Word. Saturate yourself in it. The importance of faithfully reading, meditating upon, memorizing and obeying God's Word aids and abets our donning God's righteous character and conduct to live a more sanctified life. As we "aim for that perfection" (2 Corinthians 13:11), we garner more appropriate behavior for living in that home of righteousness some day.
Don't get me wrong, though, we can only have the ability to do this only after we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn our "booking" in God's eternal home of righteousness. So why the fuss then afterwards?
A saying "God loves us as we are but loves us too much to leave us that way"; so He accepts us sinners as we are to receive His gift of salvation but then after that we are to live in such a way as to please Him and not ourselves. Otherwise, we are still 'god' and not God our God. We must live so that we do not give God, nor any of His family, a bad reputation. He wants us to become more like Christ. You see, God has given us His righteousness at time of salvation and expects us to live in a righteous manner thereafter. How else will we know how to behave in our new home to come?
I feel peace when I think of that home of righteousness too (Revelation 21:1-4 and 22:1-6). Just think, we do not have to worry that we will 'blow it'; so we can be relieved of failure or thoughts of failure once we get there. God is ever gracious to us.
May you all grow in, and utilize, the abundant grace God gives each of His children and be "found blameless" as we look forward to life in the "home of righteousness" with our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine it, even a little?
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
Scoffers scoff but to those who have received the "precious faith" through the "righteousness" of Jesus Christ, their Savior, Peter writes many things to counter the attack. He's written about their "participating in God's divine nature" by living a Christian life; making "every effort" to know and remember, obey and teach God's truth; he's enlightened them about false teachers and the false teaching that goes with them as well as the false teachers' very ungodly behavior and insolent, slanderous accusations and now he wishes to appraise them of 'scoffers', as we have arrived at 2 Peter 3:3-9.
Peter details scoffer character and work as: "putting doubts into their minds; mocking and knocking at the truth the believers believe about our Lord Jesus Christ, creation, and is He really coming back for you?! It's been soooooooooo long; you still want to believe that? Isn't everything in the Bible just fairy tales, myths or legends?"
When scoffers keep up their tirade and agenda against believers, going on and on, continuously desecrating our beliefs, and asking us if our beliefs are really true; are God and His Word really, the truth? This barrage may well sway our thinking. However earlier in this second chapter of 2 Peter, Peter admonishes his readers to "wholesome thinking" (vs 1). They were to set their compass on God and His Word and constantly refer to Him; this would keep them, and us, nowadays, allowing them to be victorious over-comers in their thoughts. God and His Word would be their bulwark and powerful 'weapon' against all incoming scoffer shrapnel.
Some scoffers mock that "Hah! Your Jesus said He's coming back "soon". That was more than 2000 yrs ago! Your Bible says in Revelation 22:17 "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come' and supposedly, Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming soon! (Revelation 22:12, 13). Do you really think 2000 years, is soon?! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"
That may indeed seem a long time ago but, God being God, is ever merciful and patient "not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance"; even those scoffers (vs 9). The scoffers forget that to God the time isn't long: 1 day = 1000 years and 1000 years = 1 day. People talk about "the patience of Job"; what about God? He's got Job beat by a long shot! What's His reason for seeming delay? His love for His creatures. He does not want any to "pass eternally ruined into hell". Not even the scoffers, I repeat.
But God will send Jesus to bring us to be with Him. Whether it is one day from now or another 2000 years from now; He will come and that when everyone lest expects it. Read some more of the chapter; 2 Peter 3:10-13. The earth will be melted and burned up.
Because of this, how should we, as God's children, behave? We ought to live "holy and godly lives"; look forward to being with Him; look forward to a new heaven and earth. We should not embrace the present overly much. That is, if the earth we are living on now will be destroyed, then we don't have to be so materialistic and clinging on to it as Lot's wife clung on to Sodom and Gomorrah. She did that to her own destruction (Genesis 19:26).
Let our focus be with our heavenly Father in the coming new heaven and earth life (Revelation 21:1-4). This is where "righteousness will live"! We ourselves had better be living the righteous life too, here and now. Yes, we have been made righteous in God's eyes through Jesus work on the cross and our subsequent acceptance of His gift of salvation. It's our maturity in Christ, that process of sanctification as we align ourselves with Christ-like living that needs daily attention; this in the eyes of mankind (See the book of James: faith without works is dead).
We ought to turn the evil desires of our human nature into willing hearts that submit those desires to God's good and perfect, holy and righteous desires, will and way. This is to become "holy as God is holy" (1 Peter 1:16). We ought to prepare for that life in that "home of righteousness". I'm not suicidal and I'm willing to wait for God's timing for my call to go to Him, but....Ahhh-h-h!...I can't wait to get there.
All this I firmly believe and no scoffer is going to change my mind! I pray that for you all too.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
The phrase that sticks out at me from what Peter has inscribed is to "stimulate [the readers] to wholesome thinking" (2 Peter 3:1-9). In another verse this kind of thinking is described as "whatsoever things are honorable, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue and praise". They were to think on such things (Philippians 4:8). Often what people are thinking, will come out in their actions.
The backdrop of this wholesome thinking Peter is now encouraging the reader to think on was all that dishonorable behavior and character of the false teachers and their false teaching which we learned about in Slanderous Slander. The contrast would be glaringly obvious.
The opposite of wholesome thinking is unhealthy thinking. Worry is an emotion but when we dwell on our concerns, fretting and fretting without bringing our burdens to the Lord, it is negative thinking and therefore unhealthy. If we are thinking of things to be praising about, we will not engage in worry. To dwell on our worries creates stress and fears and those in turn, can turn into mega health issues as was noted another day: stress related diseases will eventually manifest in our bodies.
If we are thinking of "good reports" we will not be thinking of slandering someone nor keeping "records of wrong" (1 Corinthians 13:5). Unforgiveness, hate, and bitterness turn into slander and anger and rage. Anger related diseases will show up. Thinking on good reports is not only wholesome but healthy.
When we are "established in the truth" found in God's Word we will not be establishing ourselves in the falsehoods of the false teachers nor of their behavior. When we are thinking on Jesus Christ and all He has done for us in giving us forgiveness of sins and eternal life and peace in our hearts; taking our punishment on Himself and saving us from the wrath of God, we will be in praising mode.
When we are thinking on being "pure" and striving for "virtue", we will live to "be holy as God is holy" becoming more sanctified and Christ-like instead of ingraining the actions of evil: greed, adultery and pornography and the like, which are NOT admirable at all.
Showing respect for authority will squelch the slander and dishonor. Being hospitable and helping the widows, the fatherless, and the poor will also show just and admirable qualities that honor God and "stimulate others to more wholesome thinking" in turn; learning by good example.
Let us humbly seek after the better way; the wholesome way, and have good health in our minds, hearts, spirit, soul and body. God wants what is best for us. Let us honor Him, my sons, and so stimulate ourselves and others to feeding on God's Word to learn and obey His will and way in our lives; thus may you all ever inculcate wholesome thinking.
~ERC 2016~
Our privilege of appearing with Jesus in all His glory in time to come, is all because of God's lavish love on us in the first place. When we become God's child through faith in Jesus Christ and because of His love to us, He gave Jesus so that "whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). This is what God's lavish love did for us! Forgiveness of sins and everlasting life!!
