1 John 3

 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. vv.18-19

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What’s your love language?  In this chapter of 1st John we hear a lot of how to love.  Love is tricky because so many people define love differently and respond differently to different ways of love.  Some people define love by being pleased by someone or to someone, a circumstantial reaction.  Others define love by emotions of desire or lust.  The Bible has three different words for love in the original language, but the love we’re talking about here is agape love, self-sacrificing love; and in verse sixteen it says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”  John tells us to not love with words and tongue, meaning let’s not just be all talk of how we love but let’s practice what we preach.  Let us love with actions and in truth.  Putting our love in action is going to be self-sacrifcing because it’s putting others first before ourselves.  But what does it mean to love in truth?  Well we have to start at what is truth.  If we believe the God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), we ought to know His Word then to love with it.  Now loving with truth isn't easy, as it can not be something people always want to hear or see, but if it is what is true than it is what is right.  It’s hard love sometimes but we all crave it that we may grow.  Let us not just love to people please, which is a false love, but be maybe the only voice or action of truth that one may ever hear or see.  For if we don't we will be restless in our hearts and regret not stepping up when we had the chance.  Like telling your best friend right before she gets married that she shouldn’t marry her soon to be husband, may be the hardest thing to say it’s better than seeing them divorce a year or so down the road realizing you could have possibly saved all that heartache.  What is some hard act of love of the truth to someone you need to step up to right now? 

Colossians 4

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. v.6

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Salt makes everything taste better.  Sometimes you can add too much salt and it ruins the food or sometimes you don't add enough or any and it doesn't turnout what you were hoping for.  So our words should be satisfying to the soul.  Our speech is to be full of grace and seasoned with salt. One must discern how to say hard things when needed but also do so in grace.  Sometimes it's hard to call someone out, share bad news, say a hard thing but it always is better than regretting not saying anything at all.  Discernment of when and how is still key when talking with others but notice the rest of this verse says "so that you may know how to answer everyone."  it's good to practice communication daily with those around you of all types of personalities.  Remember grace is undeserved favor and we should be that in our speech as well  The rhyme "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" is not necessarily true.  Our words can hurt, so let's watch what and how we speak.

Colossians 3

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. vv.3-4

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It's not obvious today who's a Christian and who's not.  Some may appear to be but aren't and some appear not to be but are.  One day it will be manifest to all who are Christ followers, but for now we are hidden.  Notice this verse says "hidden WITH Christ."  He's hidden too today.  Now that's not to say He isn't working, but what He does is "behind the scenes," it's not obvious to all that it's Christ.  Don't let this be a verse to justify not doing godly works, but a reminder that we're hidden and will be rewarded for what we do even when no one's looking or doesn't seem to care.  Oh bring the day when He appears to the whole world!

Colossians 2

 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. v.8

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It's easy to be deceived, it's easy to go with the flow/ the norm, it's easy to get caught up in traditions without really understanding how or why they began.  sometimes we're too afraid to question someone that uses big or many words thinking they're smarter than everyone else.  sometimes it's scary to change tradition knowing they'll be push back and change is hard.  Even if it's something you've believed your whole life and then learn that it's false it can seem extreme but we must remember Christ trumps everything.  God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom.  Even if it's hard to make sense of we must chose Christ.  Thoughts may seem harmless but ideas can dictate one's life more severely than a master can control a slave.  So beware of these things and search out truth and reasons to something new you may not understand.  What about the tradition of Easter?

Colossians 1

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. vv.15-16

Read chapter 1
Jesus is God.  They're ONE, not two separate gods.  Jesus is the image, the physical representation, the face of God.  When He's called the "firstborn" that doesn't mean He had a beginning- the next part of the verse clearly says that He was there in Genesis 1 creating everything.  The Greek word for first born is PROTOTOKOS and means "the most important or priority one or supreme  or first in rank."  So Christ was neither born nor created.  All things abstract and concrete (invisible/visible) Christ triumphs.  Today people get caught up in the abstract things, where spirituality isn't just a Christian term but used of things unexplained visibly but give honor to other gods.  Do you give God the supremacy He deserves?  How do you understand Jesus being fully God (v.19)?

1 John 2

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. vv.15-17

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Don’t love the world.  Notice what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say do not love anyone in the world, it says do not love the world or anything in it: the stuff that comes out of the world and not from God the Father.  These things that come from the world are “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does.”   I guess it’s kind of like “hate the sin, love the sinner.”  If you love the world it’s says the love of the Father is not in him.  If the Father’s love is in us we ought to love the things He loves and hate the things He hates.  We live in the world and cannot hide from the things of this world but that doesn't mean we have to love the world.  We may have to tolerate certain things but there are also many sins we can take a stand against.  What is something in the world you love that God doesn’t love?  How can you allow the love of the Father to be greater than that love of the world?

1 John 1

 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.vv.6-8

Read chapter 1 

Does anyone else sing the old Newsboys song “Be in the Light”?  Well I for sure do every time I read these verses.  Well what these verses, as well as the song, are talking about is our sinful nature and choosing to live in our godly nature instead.  Living in the light is where everything is seen clearly good and bad stuff.  As I write this I’m on a road trip with a friend driving across the country and we prefer to drive in the daylight because driving in the dark causes us to drive slower and be more cautious of animals and other cars and unknown of what we can’t see as ones vision cant see as far as in the daylight.  The light reveals things unseen in the darkness, if you think about it most sins take place in the dark or at night (i.e how many people struggle with lust when laying in their bed at night, or bars and strip clubs are usually full at night).   How many people, yourself included, live one way during the day and another way during the night?  Well that’s what John is calling out here, that believers were claiming fellowship with Jesus who is light yet walking in darkness calling them liars not living in truth.  When we walk in darkness we loose fellowship with Christ.  Now we all are sinners, even after we are saved, so will walk in darkness at sometime or other, but let’s not be hypocritical and ask God to continue to rid any darkness still in our sinful nature.  What areas of darkness are you living in regularly that your causing disunity with Jesus?