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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
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.
1 John 2:7-11
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Nearly everyone is somewhat familiar with the Ten Commandments, even if they aren't intimately knowledgeable of the Bible itself. In fact, one could argue that the Ten Commandments are the most widely known of biblical directives in the world today.
Why do they persevere after God delivered them to Moses on Mount Sinai well over 2,000 years ago?
I believe it’s because they command us to either do or not do certain things and aligns with cultures where behavior is largely predicated by established rules and regulations. It has been said that without order, there is chaos and so civilized societies ensure this doesn’t happen by standards and then enforcing and upholding them.
But there’s a big difference between worldly mandates and the commands of God?
For the former are often treated and sometimes tolerated as if they are optional while the latter expects and demands uncompromising compliance.
Need an example?
Most people drive and the highways have posted speed limits. Drivers are expected to maintain their speed in accordance with the limit but do they? There are few places I have driven in the United States where it happens. Even when there is a police presence to try and encourage conformity, people simply slow down until they pass the radar check and then speed back up over the limit. And to give you an indicator of how determined people are to be law breakers, people can report where speed traps are and they are then pin pointed on online maps as a warning to travelers.
Contrast this with God’s very first commandment. Do you remember what He said?
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3
Look at our world today and you will see people worshiping all sorts of things, actors, singers, and politicians to name a few. They also will direct their adoration and devotion to materialism, especially money and the possessions it can acquire.
In regard to the latter, we know it has been an ages old issue because Jesus spoke out on it during His Sermon on the Mount. There we find Him saying this:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24
The Bible makes it clear that we are to give our full life’s attention and affection to God, our Maker and Master. There is no exception to this and every single person is supposed to uncompromisingly abide by the command.
Unfortunately, people treat the Ten Commandments and all other demands of God as if they are like the posted speed limits, simply suggestions instead of directives not to be broken. As a result, there should be little surprise that we live in a world where evil and lawlessness seemingly runs rampant. In many places and instances, chaos is showing itself more and more.
Now, up to now, we have talked primarily about scriptural demands from God found in the Old Testament but as we see after Jesus came and walked the earth, some new commandments were rendered that built on the old. Unlike the former commands who were targeted for the Israelite people, providing principles by which they were expected to live by as God’s chosen people, the orders Jesus rendered applied to all people, whether Jew or Gentile.
One such command came as Jesus was talking with His disciples and warning them of His pending departure from the world. In the thirteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, He said this:
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for Me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.”
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” Vv.33-35
When we look at the heart of Jesus, we find love. In fact, He is the ultimate standard for it and any Christian believer only loves because He first loved them (1 John 4:19). And this love from Jesus is an extension of the love He receives from His Father God (John 15:9). It’s a love Jesus calls us to remain in.
So Jesus is love but He is also the Light of the world.
“I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12
So in John’s Gospel, we learn that Jesus gets love from God and passes that love to all who place their belief in Him, His beloved who also are to walk in His light, a light that will always keep them out of the darkness.
Note how these two truths are intermingled in our scripture verses for today from John’s first letter.
For if a Christian doesn’t love “a brother or sister” then they are “in the darkness”, no matter how much they might be in a state of denial and think they are in the light. The “darkness” of their sinful, disobedient behavior “has blinded them”.
The bottom line is that you can’t walk in the darkness and light simultaneously anymore than you can live in sin and righteousness. It’s utterly impossible and so at any one time, a Christian is either serving Satan or Jesus.
John isn’t “writing” a new command but rather “an old one”, reminding his brothers and sisters in Christ, including us today of how we are to live as Jesus expects and indeed showed in the way He lived.
The question is, “Are we going to obey or treat His words as merely a recommendation?”
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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