"Here's Johnny" - Chapter 1

It's been a while since my last post, and I guess it's because I've been pretty busy. It's been a good busy with University and with ministry, but it's also been a challenging busy - namely to make time for God and to really spend meaningful time reflecting on what I read in His word.

Today I started reading 1 John again and then spent some time reflecting on the passage with Zaiga. We read chapter 1 today, and it's very challenging despite it's short length. I thought it would be cool to let you follow along on this journey into looking into 1 John with us, so I'll try to update this when something really strikes me! So... here's Johnny...

'We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.' - 1 John 1 v 3 + 4

Do you share about your faith enough? Or furthermore, do you share about your faith with joy? What a challenge. I know that I don't talk about how much God is doing in my life enough, and I surely know that when I do it's probably not nearly as positive and joyful as it needs to be! As Christians we need to be sharing our faith joyfully with other believers to encourage them! We need to share with joy with non-Christians to make them think! First challenge...

'God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.' - 1 John 1 v 5 + 6

Second challenge... Pretty black and white, literally. God is light and has no darkness in Him at all. So if we are living a lifestyle of sin then we are apart from Him and His fellowship. This doesn't mean that Christians don't sin - of course we do. But what is important to note is that when we sin, we don't sin in the light but rather we stray from the light and walk in the darkness - We are broken off from fellowship with God. We can't be in fellowship with God and sin because it is fundamentally contradictory to His character. Seems pretty glum right? But there's hope, read on:

'But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.' - 1 John 1 v 7

Hope! When we are walking in darkness, when we have left the light to stride in sin, when we are apart from God blocked by our sins there is hope. Return to the light! If we come back into fellowship with our Father and with Jesus, then His blood cleanses us from our sins and we are pure again. Pure again to walk in the pure light of our Father God. Be encouraged.

“Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.” 

- Ezra Pound