SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05-18-04
My Worship Time Focus: Walking in
the truth
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2John 4-6
Message of the verse:
“4 I was very glad to find
some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to
do from the Father. 5 And now I ask you, lady, not as writing to
you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that
we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to
His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the
beginning, that you should walk in it.
John said in verse four that he was glade to find some of
this lady’s children walking in the faith.
It must be noted that some of her children were walking in the faith,
and if this is speaking of a house church, then it is possible that some of
those who attend there had been “captured” by the false teachers. It was great joy for John to learn that some
of these children were indeed walking in the truth. John goes on to say that all of us have
received the commandments from God the Father.
“The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from
generation to generation.” This is from
Psalm 33:11, and the last portion of it says that the plans come from the heart
of God, and not just the mind of God.
This means that our obedience to Him should be out of love and not out
of fear. 1John 5:3 has this to say about
love, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not burdensome.”
John appeals to this “lady”, and to all of us who read
his words, that we love one another and that we walk in the truth of these
commandments. Believers can love one
another because of the Holy Spirit that lives within us, who enables us to do
this, “For the fruit of the Spirit is love,” Gal. 522.
I wish to give a simple definition of Agape love,
treating others the way that God is treating you. It is interesting that by doing this it does
not mean that we have to like those that we love. Agape love is not a feeling like we get when
we love that special one that God has given us, of like loving our children,
parents, family or close friends, Agape love is actions, and our attitudes.
John has three themes running through this paragraph, and
they are love, truth, and obedience.
When we believe the truth about Jesus Christ and that of the world we
our saved, and when we are saved we will be obedient to the truth and then we
can love others as John has been writing about in this section.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: To treat others the way that God is treating
me, and that means that I will love them.
Jesus spoke of giving a cup of cool water to those who were in need of
it in Matthew 24, and I believe that that puts loving others in perspective,
for it is meeting the needs of someone who needs their needs met.
The Word of God was both
refreshing and also very challenging to my heart as I read it this morning.
My Steps of Faith Today: To trust the Lord, that through His Holy
Spirit, He would begin to transform my heart into loving others the way that He
loves me. To trust the Lord with the
trial that He has allowed me to be in, trust Him that He will work out the
circumstances of this trial to be good for my wife and I, and that it might
also bring honor to the Lord.
Memory verse for the week:
1Corthians 13:1
If I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a
clanging cymbal.
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