September 10th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Supreme Command

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Opening Prayer

Lord, You have given me the gift of hope in Jesus Christ. May I be hopeful and hope-filled each day.

Read 1 John 2:1-14

[1] My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. [2] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. [3] We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. [4] Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. [5] But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: [6] Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. [7] 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. [8] 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. [9] Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. [10] Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. [11] 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. [12] I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. [13] I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. [14] I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Our Lord told his disciples that love and obedience were organically united. The final test of love is obedience” (A. W. Tozer).

Think Further

It is good that vs. 1 and 2 are there, because the rest of this passage could be rather depressing. Verses 3-14 are a meditation on John 15:12, including warnings about unreality and the awfulness of lack of love. Love is the key indicator that we know Jesus (3-5a), the key feature of the Christ-likeness we must display (5b, 6), the key component of Jesus’ teaching (7), and the key sign of the birth of the age to come and the shining of the Light (8-10). If love is not present, then darkness is reigning, whatever else might seem to be the case (11).

In vs. 12-14, John explains and displays the kind of love he means: a love that isn’t a vague warm emotion, but a discriminating and knowing commitment to the good of the other. John doesn’t think only about his readers from a distance, he writes to them, knowing them intimately and wanting to give them a gift appropriate to their situation and their needs. To the young, he  gives something that builds on their joyful awareness of forgiveness and their intimacy with God as Father (12,14a); to the older people, he gives something that encourages them in their knowledge of God (13a,14b); to those in their prime, he offers something that directs their strength, ambition and sense of purpose (13b,14c). This is love in action!

But how good it is that the passage begins with vs. 1 and 2. Love is growing in us, but who can claim that God’s love is “made complete” in them (5)? It might be so for John the apostle, after a lifetime of walking in the Light, but for the rest of us, we constantly need to be coming back to “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1) for forgiveness.

Apply

Do just that: claim vs. 1 and 2 for yourself and ask for the growth of this Christ-like love in you.

Closing prayer

Loving Lord, today may I truly fulfill Your command to “love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

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