For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Christmas is coming soon. Let us remember what it is truly about, the birth of Jesus Christ. Let us strive to not be caught up in the commercialism which is what this season is about for many in our society today.
When those who are in authority are godly, people are happy and thrive. When the wicked rule, people suffer, even if they are not directly oppressed by those rulers. When the government rules justly a nation will be stable and the economy will thrive. When those in government use their power for their own interest, the nation will be on the path to destruction.
Let us watch God as a slave watches his master, intently studying Him so as to know His will, reacting to every little sign to gain His favour and avoid His displeasure. Do we really do this? Or are we so sure of God’s mercy that we do not worry about what will please Him, or what will anger Him? Oh God, please forgive me for those times when I have not taken into account what You desire me to do.
Not everyone who claims to speak on behalf of God is guided by God’s Spirit. Anyone who is speaking a message given to them by God’s Spirit will acknowledge that Jesus actually lived, died, and rose from the dead. Anyone who does not acknowledge this truth about Jesus is not from God. The latter have the spirit of this world in them and are speaking from the viewpoint of this world. Therefore the world will readily listen to them. Those who truly follow Christ have God’s Spirit within them. If we have God’s Spirit within us we will listen to those who speak the message given by God’s Spirit. Those who do not have God’s Spirit will not listen to that message. In this way we are able to distinguish those who have God’s Spirit from those who do not.
John continues telling us how to recognize those who know and belong to God. God is love (but love is not God), therefore everyone who truly loves others knows God. Anyone who does not love others does not know God. Here he teaches us a key part of the Christian message. No one has seen God directly, but if we love one another, others will see that God lives in us and see Him through us. As we allow God’s love to grow in us we will fear less and less. If we do fear it is because we do not yet experience God’s love fully. Let us continue to grow in our love so that we learn not to fear anything.
This passage is packed full of insight. John goes on to tell us that we love because God first loved us. This is an important insight into human nature. We are only capable of loving if we have been loved. If you look at people around you you will notice that those who do the best job of loving others were well loved by others. When you find an exception to this rule, it is someone who is filled with God’s Spirit. Which means that it is not an exception after all. Ultimately, this tells us that our job in this world is to pass God’s love on to others, especially those who have never experienced love from a human being. All love is originally from God.
The book of Daniel ends with an account of a “king of the north” who will do as he pleases. He will be victorious in many battles, then suddenly his time will run out. After his death, a time of great anguish will occur, but those whose name is written in the book of life will be rescued. The dead will rise, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting shame. Then the account contains several cryptic comments about how long these things will go on. At one point it says, “It will go on for a time, times, and half a time.” At another point we are told, “…, there will be 1290 days. And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1,335 days!” I will not pretend to have any understanding of what those mean. I have heard, and read, various interpretations of those, but none that I find convincing. At this point, the important meaning I take from them is that while the suffering will go on for a long time, it is still a limited, measurable amount of time. When measured against eternity, the suffering will not go on for all that long at all.