SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 06-29-04
My Worship Time Focus: Love perfected
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: 1John 2:5-6
Message of the verse: “5 But those who obey God’s word really do
love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live
their lives as Christ did.” (NLT) “5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love
is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as
Jesus did.” (NIV)
As stated in the SD on 6-27-04,
there are three reasons as to why a person obeys another, and in this case God,
and the most mature reason to obey God is because we love Him as stated in
verse five. I believe that John is
speaking about a continuous action of obedience. If a person is not saved then he will not
keep the commandments of the Lord, but if a person is saved there will be times
when he does not keep the commandments of the Lord, but when he doesn’t he will
realize that it was sin and then confess it as sin to the Lord. Christianity is a relationship with the
living God through Jesus Christ the Lord, and when believers realize that this
is a relationship and they do something that offends the Lord then they should
want to get that relationship back on track by confessing the offence to the
Lord.
The NIV translation uses the word
“complete” to describe the kind of love that a believer can have with the
Lord. If the believer keeps the Lord’s
commandments out of the motivation of love then his love will be made complete,
or it will be perfected.
Verse six goes on to say that if we
belong to the Lord then we will walk as the Lord Jesus Christ walked while He
was on the earth. I do not know
everything that is meant by this, but one thing I do know is that when Jesus
Christ was on the earth He walked in dependence upon His Father at all times,
trusting His Father, and obeying all that He had for Him to do.
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: I have to decide why it is
that I want to obey the commandments of the Lord. Am I obeying because I have to, need to, or
because I want to? I know that there are
times I obey for one of these different reasons, yet my desire is to obey the
Lord because I want to, because of love.
The Word
of God was refreshing to my soul, and it was also a challenge to my heart as I
read it this morning.
My Steps of Faith Today: I wish to trust the Lord and obey Him today because of the
love that I have for Him, a love that he started in my heart when He saved me
from sin, and placed me into the Body of Christ, the Church.
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