1 John 2:7-11
English Standard Version (ESV)
The New Commandment7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because[a] the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him[b] there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Again, I must beg forgiveness, but this time, I'm late due to a legitimate emergency of sorts.
Thankfully, (for me), today's passage is straightforward. Blunt. Which is sometimes a good thing, especially with a message as important as this.
Love one another. Bam. The end. Bye!
Haha, just kidding.
But really though, if we say we are followers of Jesus, yet aren't showing His love, then we have a serious problem here, folks. We aren't supposed to ignore sin. We aren't supposed to condone sin in the ''name of love'', that's not really love. Love sometimes has to be tough. Sometimes, nay, often, love is, "hey look, I love you, but you can't keep doing this." That's not easy, but it's still love. We have a responsibility to strike the precarious balance between being loving, and yet still calling sin, sin. It's not easy.
So, as straightforward as this passage is, it doesn't mean it's obedience is easy. Sometimes it can be very difficult to love. Especially those who don't return the love. Or outright hate you.
I'm gonna scoot. I'm not feeling up to snuff today. I'm sorry for the short (and late) post, and will hopefully be able to explain better (and on time!) next week.
Sandy
2 comments:
I like how John phrases this. This is not a new command. The Old Testament commanded us to love one another. But it's new if it's new to you, or if you're seeing or hearing it in a fresh, new way. If the light bulb finally went on!
We cannot hate our fellow believers. We cannot. We can be disappointed, frustrated or annoyed, we can feel betrayed, we can feel let down. But we can't hate them. I liked Driscoll's thoughts here....
"Hatred is not just active hostility. It is the unwillingness to extend love and kindness. It's a sin of commission where we act out of hatred. It's a sin of omission where we don't act out of hatred. Do what you want. I'm done with you. I give up. You're on your own. It's hatred....it's not a sin to be frustrated. It's not a sin to be annoyed. It's not a sin to be disappointed. It is a sin to permit that to cross over into hatred, where you don't love that person anymore. You won't speak to that person anymore. You won't pray for that person anymore. You won't hope the best for that person anymore.
You can't say you're Christian, and then, hate other Christians. You can't. You can't. Your heart should be the heart of Jesus, broken over people who claim to be Christians, but continually walk in sin and folly and darkness and ignore God. You should be heartbroken. It's sad. It's tragic."
One more thought.... being in the darkness, that's a scary place. Especially when you're trying to justify living in the darkness. Suddenly the darkness is normal and you completely lose your moral compass and you can't even see the light anymore. Darkness becomes normal. Apparently that can literally happen with your sight. If you continually see only darkness for long enough, you actually go blind. That's terrifying enough in the physical, but the same is true of the spiritual and that would be even more terrifying. That you would become so accustomed to walking in darkness that you wouldn't be able to see the light.
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