Good Morning All!
1 John 2:9; “Whoever
says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. “
Imagine for a moment that you are taking a
friend to a sporting contest. It can be
between two local high schools or two colleges or your favorite pro sport
teams. You cheer for team “A”. The friend that you brought along, and paid
for the ticket in, gave a ride to and bought dinner for, agrees to cheer for
your team as well. The only thing is
that he is wearing a team jersey from the opposing team “B”. Every time team “B” does something good he
stands up and cheers for them. Every
time team “A” does something good, he just sits there. When you ask him, “Whose side are you on?”
and he replies with, “yours”; do you believe him?
Most people would agree that you cannot
tell me you are for team “A” if you cheer for team “B”. You must cheer for one team or another. You cannot have it two different ways. You are either cheering for team “A” or team
“B”. You cannot claim to be in the light
(a follower of Jesus) and then hate your brother and keep living in the dark
(sinful nature).
In this, his first epistle, the Apostle
John makes it clear that when it comes to faith, you are either in or out. You are either in the light or in the
darkness. You either confess that Jesus
is your Lord, or you confess that he is not and something or someone (Usually
our self) is lord of our life. For many
that is difficult. Many want to have it
two or more ways at the same time. Some
want a spouse but do not want to remain faithful to that spouse. Some want their employer to always have a job
and good pay and benefits for them but do not want to work hard to make the
business profitable to allow this to happen.
Many want to live their life in total freedom with no sense of
responsibility for their actions.
Jesus loves us with a special
self-sacrificial love. It is a love
which only gives and never expects something back in some form of a trade. We all know people like that. “I’ll love you if you love me first.” “As long as you are nice to me; I’ll be nice
to you.” These are not examples of
self-sacrificial love but of self-serving selfish love. Selfish love is the kind of love the world
knows. Your concern is for, “what is in
it for me?” Jesus calls us to the light
of his grace, to the light of reconciliation, in order that we might love
others as Christ loves us. Remember what
Jesus endured for you on Mt. Calvary, remember what he gave up (heavenly glory)
for you, remember what he does now for you (intercedes with the Father for
you). All this and more he does for you
even, actually especially, when you do not show God’s love to others, and you
deserve punishment. Jesus takes that
punishment for you.
The beauty of living in the light is that
you can see where you are going. We know
where we are going; we are going to heaven to live with our heavenly Father,
with our brother Jesus, with our comforter the Holy Spirit and all the saints
who died in faith and went before us.
The gift of the light to see the truth, to live in harmony with each
other, to comfort and console, to protect and help defend each other from the
attacks of the devil. Live in the light
of Christ’s righteousness and the hope of our salvation.
Dear Lord Jesus, you are
the light of the world. Shine into our
hearts with your truth and the saving warmth of your grace. Guard us this day from our foe the devil and
keep us from the darkness. Give us the
strength and courage to share your amazing gift of salvation with those whom we
meet. In Your precious name we pray,
amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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