Tag: 1 John

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Jesus, Perfect Image of Life

This week I am sharing a daily devotional each morning that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

1 John 4:9, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.”

Do you ever struggle to feel that God’s love is for you? Do you ever wonder if God is paying attention when bad things happen? Then you are human. Fighting to believe God’s love for us is part of the walk of faith that will continue until our pilgrimage to heaven is complete. It is in those moments and seasons of difficulty or doubt that the best thing for us is to look to Jesus and what He did on the cross.

“Magic Eye” pictures were all the rage in the ’90s. If you looked at a colorful design with the right squint of eye, a picture would practically pop out at you. A bunch of random geometric patterns would suddenly look like a 3D completed image. Looking at Jesus as we go through life is a little bit like that. We may not understand everything about life and God’s purpose for us now, but we will see a fuller, richer picture of life when Jesus is in view.

How was the love of God manifested to us? “God sent His only begotten Son into the world.” The greatest demonstration of God’s love is that He sent Jesus into a world that would neither recognize Him nor accept Him as the Redeemer. Still, God sent Jesus–for you.

Father, when I question Your love, point my eyes to Your only begotten Son.

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We Shall See Him

This week I am sharing a daily devotional each morning that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”

A missionary tells the story of working with an indigenous language partner in a local tribe. They were translating 1 John. When the native understood what 1 John 3:2 was teaching, he threw down his pen and exclaimed to the missionary, “It is too much! Instead let us write, ‘We will fall down and worship at His feet!'”

That is the reaction of someone who first understands the grace of the gospel. Yes, John wants us to know we are sons and daughters of God. But there’s more. God doesn’t only want us to be in a family relationship with Him, He also wants us to be close.

God wants us so close that He sent Jesus as a man. God became human and gave Himself so we could be rescued from sin and live with Him forever.

To fit us for heaven so we can be in His very presence for eternity, He will make us like Jesus, and then we can see God as He is–His unwavering love for us, His yearning for relationship with us, and His grace-filled invitation to us to experience His presence both now and forever.

Father, thank You for the hope of my resurrection body and my eternal future in Your presence.

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To Know and to Believe

This week I am sharing a daily devotional each morning that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

1 John 4:16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

It is one thing to know a fact, but it’s another thing entirely to believe that fact. I may know that exercise is good for me in an intellectual way. But when I get outside and go for a run, I show that I believe that exercise is good for me. Knowing I should run usually keeps me on the couch. Believing I should run has helped me to finish a marathon.

This distinction is especially important in love. A wife may know that her husband loves her because of his marriage covenant with her, but she believes it when she sees him sacrificing for her. A child may know that his mother loves him, but he believes it when she hugs him after he falls down. It’s important to know that you are married or who your mom is. Knowledge brings crucial assurance of our relationships. But believing that those relationships are good for you is necessary to feel love.

John wants the readers of 1 John to both know and believe the love that God has for them. The gospel tells us that God is love, but putting our faith in Jesus means that we believe His love is for us. Know it. Believe it. Feel it. God loves you.

Father, looking to the cross changes me. Help me to both know and believe Your great love for me.

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