Bible League: Living His Word I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.Why would the Apostle John feel the need to urge those to whom his letter is addressed to love one another? If you are going to take the time to write a letter to a church, why not focus on issues that are fresh and less obvious? After all, the idea that we should love one another is central to the Christian way of life and it was, no doubt, taught in the churches from the very beginning. Even John himself says the commandment is nothing new to his readers. Apparently the Apostle believed it was something that bears repeating. Precisely because love is so central, it bears repeating. It may not be new, but it is crucial to everything Christianity is all about. Jesus said that the love of God is the first and greatest commandment and He said that the love of neighbor is equally important. Indeed, Jesus said that the "entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-39). It follows, therefore, that every other law, commandment, and principle of the Bible is just a specific way of expressing love to God or to people. We should not envy, for example, because to do so is a failure to love someone. We should not kill, obviously, for the same reason. Something similar can be said of every other moral principle of the Bible. Given the central importance of love, it can't be avoided. It's not a new commandment because its very centrality demanded that it be confronted from the beginning. Thus, the Apostles taught it to the churches, Jesus taught it to His disciples, and it was first articulated by Moses in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). Indeed, since the moral principles of the Old Testament are grounded in the very design plan God had for human beings made in His image, love has been central to human life from the very beginning of human life. So we need to be reminded. We need to be reminded of the centrality and importance of love. We need to continuously re-orient and re-focus our lives as lives of love. Today, then, do what John says we should do. Be sure to love one another. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJeremiah 36, 37 Jeremiah 36 -- Jeremiah's Scroll Read in the Temple, Burned, and Replaced NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 37 -- Jeremiah Warns against Trust in Pharaoh NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Philemon Philemon 1 -- Paul's Thankfulness for Philemon's Faithfulness; Paul's Plea for Onesimus NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.Insight What we put into our minds determines what comes out in our words and actions. Paul tells us to program our minds with thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Challenge Do you have problems with impure thoughts and daydreams? Examine what you are putting into your mind through television, books, conversations, movies, and magazines. Replace harmful input with wholesome material. Above all, read God's Word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure. It takes practice, but it can be done. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 2 Chronicles 30:27 Their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.Prayer is the never-failing resort of the Christian in any case, in every plight. When you cannot use your sword you may take to the weapon of all-prayer. Your powder may be damp, your bow-string may be relaxed, but the weapon of all-prayer need never be out of order. Leviathan laughs at the javelin, but he trembles at prayer. Sword and spear need furbishing, but prayer never rusts, and when we think it most blunt it cuts the best. Prayer is an open door which none can shut. Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open, and as long as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy's hand. We can never be taken by blockade, escalade, mine, or storm, so long as heavenly succors can come down to us by Jacob's ladder to relieve us in the time of our necessities. Prayer is never out of season: in summer and in winter its merchandize is precious. Prayer gains audience with heaven in the dead of night, in the midst of business, in the heat of noonday, in the shades of evening. In every condition, whether of poverty, or sickness, or obscurity, or slander, or doubt, your covenant God will welcome your prayer and answer it from His holy place. Nor is prayer ever futile. True prayer is evermore true power. You may not always get what you ask, but you shall always have your real wants supplied. When God does not answer His children according to the letter, He does so according to the spirit. If thou askest for coarse meal, wilt thou be angered because He gives thee the finest flour? If thou seekest bodily health, shouldst thou complain if instead thereof He makes thy sickness turn to the healing of spiritual maladies? Is it not better to have the cross sanctified than removed? This evening, my soul, forget not to offer thy petition and request, for the Lord is ready to grant thee thy desires. Daily Light on the Daily Path Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! John 10:30,38 "I and the Father are one." • but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father." John 8:19 So they were saying to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also." John 14:8,9 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." • Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father '? Hebrews 2:13 And again, "I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM." And again, "BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME." Isaiah 53:11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son He says, "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM. Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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