Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21) The end of the love letter of John to the church is rather abrupt and can appear to come from nowhere. After all, he has been outlining the importance of faith in the Son, living in the Son, accepting the testimony about Jesus Christ being the […]
Read More The Love Letter of John: 5 – How To Avoid IdolatryA song. I am very grateful for today. I often say Thursday is the best day of the week and today really lived up to the billing. I delivered a training session with people and felt it was worthwhile – which is not always the case. I felt it was consistently sufficient for it s […]
Read More Grateful For … (19)Faith in God is based on who God is. The phrase ‘God is love’ is so short and simple, yet so easy to misunderstand. John, who stresses this aspect of who God is, helps us to find both how that love is expressed and the consequence of that love. As God is love, we see […]
Read More The Love Letter Of John: 4 – First LoveTalent. One of the things that get me excited a great deal is seeing people identify their gift and then apply themselves to making the most of it. Recently I came across a friend of mine who is a photographer. I love his work, he’s a talented photographer and seeing him at work is such […]
Read More Grateful For … (18)Chapter three in this first letter of John is one of the most powerful chapters in the Bible. There. I said it. From it’s start of delightful joy in the love of the Father, through to knowing how we are God’s children like Jesus because of love and ending in affirming we can love because […]
Read More The Love Letter Of John: 3 – Love Lays Down His LifeManhood. Over ten years ago, before we were married, my wife and I went to a large Christian conference. One session we sat in looked at the topic of biblical manhood and womanhood. At the time I was serious about desiring Authrine to be my wife, and Authrine was content to take her time considering […]
Read More Grateful For … (17)The letter from John to the church is not a mushy, sentimental piece of prose. The love spoken of in this chapter is intrinsically connected with behaviour – what we do. That behaviour is connected with who we are primarily connected to – that is relational. We have two options. We can be connected to […]
Read More The Love Letter of John: 2 – Who Do You Love?Good starts. I take good starts for granted. I was even saying to a colleague today that I prefer bad starts and good finishes to good starts and bad finishes. Yet today was a notable exception. My alarm goes off at 0500 and it’s not unusual that it will take me the best part of […]
Read More Grateful For … (16)Let me be honest with you. I haven’t always been honest. Sometimes I’ve been downright devious and duplicitous. (Great word to use for something not great at all.) One thing I can say about such moments is that it feels heavy. It feels like for whatever ‘gain’ I get from it is overwhelmed with a […]
Read More The Love Letter of John: 1 – Light WalkersThere’s more to it than that. It is amazing how easy it is to fall into the thinking that this is all there is. By that I mean the life that you live, in your particular context with the aid of your experiences and cultural backing. The explosion of information through various forms of media gives the […]
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