Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 John 1-5.

The writer of today’s passage makes three related points which I want to write about.  He begins by telling us that if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and make God out to be a liar.  We should study God’s word in order to not sin anymore, but he assures us that if we do sin Jesus will advocate with the Father for us.   If we want Jesus to advocate with the Father for us, we need to live in Him.  And, if we live in Him, we will do as He commands.  He commands that we love one another.  So, if we hate a fellow believer, we are not His and are in darkness.  The writer tells us that if we are in darkness we do not know where we are going.  That last bit explains so much about those who do not truly know the Lord.  They think that they are doing what is right and that those who disagree with them are servants of evil.  But how can we tell if it is they, or we, who do not know where they are going?  John answers that.  Those who love others live in the light and see where they are going.  So, if you harbor hate, you are in the wrong and do not see where you are going…even if by chance you are right on every other point, your hatred for another will lead you on a path which will doom you.  Those who deny that Jesus is God or that God became flesh in Jesus are liars and the antichrist, and they do not have the life which God has given us through Jesus and the Cross.  When I started this today I thought I was going to be able to explain how John showed this to connect with his message about love and hate, but it did not come out that way.  It is our faith that God came as a human being in Jesus Christ to show us how to love those around us which empowers us to strive to imitate Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.