Good afternoon!

PART 3 of 3

I am now on the last part of my 1 John study that I’ve been sharing with you. John will start to speak of God’s children and sin.

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (3:2-3)

For the one who believes, we do not keep on sinning if we live like Jesus did. Sure, we are all going to sin, but we are not supposed to keep on intentionally sinning.  We should not be led astray by others, taking us from our path of righteous. If we have been born of God, we can’t go on sinning.

 Personally, changing my friendships was the biggest thing I’ve ever done. That led me closer to God, and stay with God, because those friends walk righteous, too. Staying connected with Christ-like friends holds you accountable as well.

We are told in 1 John, that God’s child does what is right and loves their brother and sister. Whatever means it takes, you can do right, too, and love even the ones that do us wrong.  Examine your lifestyle. I bet you know of some changes that can be made in a positive direction. As a Christian, I still make choices every day that will keep me a Child of God. Key is, you must want it. A lot of us don’t like change. Change makes you uncomfortable, but it’s exactly what you need.

We explore love and hatred deeper. John tells us not to be surprised if the world hates us. It’s true. Walking like Christ is a different lifestyle than what the world is. We all can tell that for sure. He tells us we will have ones that hate us and those that love us.  

John states if we remain in death, we do not love one another. We do not need to be conformed to the world. Jesus Christ laid his life down for us and we know what love is because of this. We should do the same and lay our lives down for Him and our brothers and sisters. Love with actions and truths, not with words or speech. God’s command is to believe in his son Jesus Christ and to love one another.

We live in him when we keep God’s commands. By the spirit he gave us we know he lives in us. I’ll personally say if any of you know my journey you know what I have been through. It was a lot different than I thought it would be and there will be struggles. You must keep going onward in the decision you’ve made to follow Christ. It is the only way to get there.

In closing my third series on 1 John, John speaks on God’s love and ours. He sent his only son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. THAT IS LOVE. “This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him.” (4:9)

God’s love is made complete in us, if we love one another. Love has no fear; love drives out fear. When we listen to God, we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. The devil is indeed out there waiting for you to mess up and he wants to defeat you.

You must know God is greater than all the highs and lows. You must also hang on to that truth; “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (5-5)

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I am so glad I have been able to share this 1 John study with you. I pray you gained more insight from this small section of the bible, than you even know. If you haven’t, please subscribe so you don’t miss out on my upcoming posts. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

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