Category: ThinkAbout

1 John 1 (KJV): 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 Jn 2: 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 Jn 3: 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

I really enjoy John’s epistles. He is definitely the Apostle of love. In the Old Testament the law was given and there were around 613 commandments. Not all of them applied to everyone. Some applied only to priests and other groups. But there were plenty for everybody.

When Jesus was asked what He thought the most important commandment was, He replied essentially that we should love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and the second most important was like unto it – that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.

Doing what God wants shows you love God and doing to your neighbor only what you would want done to you shows you love your neighbor. The first four imperatives of the 10 Commandments are from us to God and the last six are from us to our neighbor. Amazingly enough – loving God and loving our neighbor will fulfill the whole law as James tells us. Once again, we see the secret to success in the Christian life… learn to love God – and His commandments will not be burdensome. Remember – God gave His own life for us – and we love Him primarily because He first loved us. Two commandments – love God and love your neighbor.

2 Peter 1 (KJV): “5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

So, what is the Apostle Peter saying here? He emphasizes faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, Godliness, brotherly kindness and charity (love). He is telling us that if we walk with these traits evident and growing, we will be fruitful and productive in our walk with, service to, and knowledge of – God. He also says we will be making our make our calling and election sure. And finally, he says we will be abundantly supplied with admittance to the Kingdom of God. How awesome is that?

Is Peter saying that the path to salvation is based upon these things? Not at all. Salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ our Messiah and Savior. It is a gift that we cannot earn. But just as James says: faith without works is dead; we see that Peter says these traits demonstrate our true conversion.

We should be sure to check ourselves from time to time to make certain we are growing in Christ and “making our calling and election sure” by our demonstration of a changed life.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t measure up like you may want to – as long as your direction is right. You likely will never attain perfection on this earth – as only our Savior Himself did.   

John 21 (KJV): So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

This occurs after Jesus had been crucified and was raised from the dead. This is Jesus’ third appearance to His disciples after the resurrection. Note that after Peter had betrayed Jesus three times before the rooster crowed, Jesus essentially gave him three chances to erase it! In this passage, Jesus also tells Peter that he would be led away to a crucifixion of his own and would die a martyrs death.

This whole idea of loving Jesus though, bears a bit of thought. Do you suppose anyone who really loves Jesus would ever go to hell? Personally I doubt it. The question then becomes central – how do we love Jesus.

1. We are commanded to love God!

Luke 10:27 – And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.

Deuteronomy 6:5 – And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

2. Why should we Love Jesus and God (same person!). Following is a partial list of reasons from a Charles Stanley In Touch web page.

“The Lord will never leave nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).

He’ll supply all our needs (Phil. 4:19).

He’ll answer our prayers (Matt. 7:7).

He has forgiven our sins (1 John 1:9).

He has given each of us at least one spiritual gift that enables us to live productive, fruitful lives and accomplish whatever He asks.

He fills us with the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to live in a way that pleases and honors God.

Christ has prepared a place for us in heaven and will someday come again to take us there (John 14:2-3).

The Lord will give us beautiful and perfect resurrected bodies.

Through Jesus, we can have personal relationships with God that transcend any other human relationships.”

3. How do we know if we love God?

John 14:21 – He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:15 – If ye love me, keep my commandments.

(KJV) Luke 9: 20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Do you love your spouse and your children? What does that mean? It means you love to spend time with them, or at least you require yourself to spend time with them as often as possible. You think about them often and you would give anything for them, to include your life. Do you love Him? What does that mean to you?  

Colossians 3 (KJV):

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

This is Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse which was heavily influenced by Greek and Roman culture and religion. The points he is making here is chapter 3 are that we should:

1. Set our affections on things above, not that which is on earth.
2. We should reckon ourselves dead to the things of this world.
3. We are going to come in glory with Christ when He comes so we must put away the deeds of the flesh, which are an abomination to God.
4. We must out off evil and put on the image of Christ. We must become new men and women.
5. We are equal in Christ.

Let the Lord Jesus be Number 1 in your life. You will be glad you did.

Matthew 6:33 (KJV): “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

This election cycle has proven to be very emotionally challenging for people on both sides of the political spectrum. I learned a couple of things while experiencing it all.

At the time of this writing the results are still being disputed.

The first thing I learned is that God is the One Who we must have faith in. Not in any one individual or anything else. If the Book of Revelation is true, the whole planet is coming to an end as we know it at some point. Whether now is the time or not, only God knows.

So, we must remember that our hope is in God and God alone. If election politics, or anything else, displaces or minimizes God in our lives, we are in a dangerous position. We must not let that happen. Just trust in Him and leave all the results to Him. Pray – but don’t get sick over it.

I also learned that the more we focus on an issue, the bigger it becomes in our lives, and the more it affects our outlook. Then, after possible disappointment or victory we must nurse our minds back down to normal balanced levels that enable us to properly function on our daily activities.  

We must stay busy or our minds will essentially unravel and drive us crazy. The mind is an amazing thing, but it must be managed. It is important to fight for what’s right, but we cannot let it destroy the relationships we have with friends and family, our potential to witness to people, or to consume most of our conscious thoughts.

So, the message here is simple. Rom 10:17 (KJV) says: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” When in emotional pain or experiencing great distraction, spend time in the word. You will immediately start to enjoy the Lord again. Get back to the sweet spot. Learn what you can from the experience you just went through.

Rom 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” So, what did God teach you through the great victory or the big disappointment you just experienced? In part, He did it for you – so what did you learn? Probably that you were out of control, improperly focused, worried about the wrong things, and generally not focusing on Him. So, fix that.

And remember God loves you. He really does. Do you realize how awesome that is?

Ephesians 3:14–19 (NKJV): “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”