Evidence of light
This week's study is on 1 John 2:9-11:
I read these verses a few days ago, and they've sat with me. John is talking about the light versus the darkness. Being in the light is being in God's will, being aware of God's love and having love for others. Being in darkness is lacking those thing, the same as actual darkness is lacking in actual light, not the other way around.
John uses church relationships as his example and says that people who love others in that environment are in the light, and in them is nothing to make them stumble. It makes sense. Is love and righteousness going to cause someone to sin? Is it going to mess up other people's lives? Are they going to be insincere and incongruent in their message to others? No!
It's easy to love someone you barely know and don't spend time with. But how much more difficult is it to love someone when you know their faults and you can't escape them? That love is true love, the love of a person, not the love of an image or an ideal. John is saying, "Look, if you can be around Christians in all stages of growth, in close quarters, and still love them, then you get it. You've passed the test."
On the other hand, if you hate your fellow Christians, then you're not fully in the light. You are still partially or completely in the darkness. A Christian like that doesn't know where they are going. And how can they? When given a chance to love, they can't do it. They may intellectually understand sin and grace, our common struggle with those being persecuted, the long path of self-improvement, and so on, but they can't apply the lesson. How can you understand Christ's sacrifice, even on a small level, if you've never had to endure another's sin and weakness and pay the price yourself?
This is a scary picture, because there are so many kinds of hatred. We look at the obvious brimming contempt, the emotions, the meanness, but beneath the surface there is more. Isn't lying a form of hatred, when you decide someone doesn't deserve the truth? Isn't it hatred when someone needs something you can give and you don't care enough to help? By these standards, most of us are living in greyish twilight.
Pray for more love and patience and charity towards others. If you're looking to track one thing to measure the health of your faith and relationship with God, it's how much you love others.
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
I read these verses a few days ago, and they've sat with me. John is talking about the light versus the darkness. Being in the light is being in God's will, being aware of God's love and having love for others. Being in darkness is lacking those thing, the same as actual darkness is lacking in actual light, not the other way around.
John uses church relationships as his example and says that people who love others in that environment are in the light, and in them is nothing to make them stumble. It makes sense. Is love and righteousness going to cause someone to sin? Is it going to mess up other people's lives? Are they going to be insincere and incongruent in their message to others? No!
It's easy to love someone you barely know and don't spend time with. But how much more difficult is it to love someone when you know their faults and you can't escape them? That love is true love, the love of a person, not the love of an image or an ideal. John is saying, "Look, if you can be around Christians in all stages of growth, in close quarters, and still love them, then you get it. You've passed the test."
On the other hand, if you hate your fellow Christians, then you're not fully in the light. You are still partially or completely in the darkness. A Christian like that doesn't know where they are going. And how can they? When given a chance to love, they can't do it. They may intellectually understand sin and grace, our common struggle with those being persecuted, the long path of self-improvement, and so on, but they can't apply the lesson. How can you understand Christ's sacrifice, even on a small level, if you've never had to endure another's sin and weakness and pay the price yourself?
This is a scary picture, because there are so many kinds of hatred. We look at the obvious brimming contempt, the emotions, the meanness, but beneath the surface there is more. Isn't lying a form of hatred, when you decide someone doesn't deserve the truth? Isn't it hatred when someone needs something you can give and you don't care enough to help? By these standards, most of us are living in greyish twilight.
Pray for more love and patience and charity towards others. If you're looking to track one thing to measure the health of your faith and relationship with God, it's how much you love others.
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