1 John 2:3-6
3. “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4. If someone claims, ‘I know God,’ but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”
Hello WBFWE Family. I pray that your week is off to an awesome start. Thanks for stopping by and I pray that you continue to have a blessed, safe, and positive day and overall week. In all we do and say let’s do it as unto The Lord.
Our faith walk is an individual thing. And I’m definitely not here to pass judgement on anyone. Before I can share the Word with you I have to first read, understand, and apply it to myself. And in doing that I accept the ugly hard truth of my faith walk and what I’m doing or not doing. And this scripture definitely made me look at myself and judge my own faith walk. The good thing about correcting yourself is that no one else can do it for you… we are being our own judge and jury. But if we aren’t willing to look at and fix ourselves, that’s when people do what people do best and judge, condemn, criticize, and be critical. But more than that, we then leave it up to Yahweh through Christ Jesus to correct, discipline, or straighten us out. I personally think it is much better for us to correct self than to have The Father do it or man/woman gossip, judge, or criticize.
The above scripture is a tough chew and even tougher swallow. Because it holds no punches and gets right in your face with the fact of the matter truth. Verse 3 states that, “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.” The only ones who knows for sure if we are obeying His commandments are ourselves and God Almighty. But our actions/behaviors/words are a very good indication if we are obeying His commandments. If anyone is paying attention to our actions/behaviors/words they can make an assessment/judgement/assumption about us obeying His commandments or not. If we proclaim to be a Christian then we put ourselves in a glass house to be viewed by fellow Christians and non-christians alike. Our words and actions are then viewed with much detail, thus letting the judgement begin. But if we are mindful of being made in His image and being a follower of Christ Jesus we can be our own police and not be afraid of being viewed and judged, because we are looking in the mirror and cleaning up what we see before anyone else can point and talk.
Verses 4 is a gut punch verse. It can knock the wind out of you. It can make you not want to look at yourself. It can make you look at yourself and admit that the person looking back at you is ugly and needs to change. If we claim we know God, but don’t obey his commandments… we are a liar and not living in the truth. I’m not calling anyone a liar because who am I to judge. And on top of that I’m too busy looking at myself and calling myself out. The Father knows we are sinful, fall short, fall off, judgmental, imperfect people, but that is not a reason or excuse to live our lives the way we want. But we live our lives the way we want and still expect Him to bless us as if we are living our lives the way He has told us to do. We live our lives in a way that pleases us, but tell Our Creator we love Him. We claim to be a Christian and know Christ, but how we are living doesn’t reflect that we know Christ or follow Him. So if we are doing all this… we are indeed what the Word calls us… which is a LIAR and not living in the truth. NOBODY likes being called a LIAR!!! If we are looking at ourselves and policing ourselves, no one, including ourselves, can honestly and truthfully criticize… judge… or call us a LIAR.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48, “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Now for the record we are not perfect and only ONE human has ever been or ever will be perfect and that is our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. With that being said we are challenged… told… expected to be mature… complete… striving for perfection as much as humanly possible… NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS ABOUT IT. Our character needs to be on point. Our holiness needs to be above reproach (we are to separate ourselves from the world since we are Christians). Our maturity needs to reach its pinnacle. Our love needs to be how Yahweh tells us to love and how Christ shows us how to love. We can be perfect if our behavior/actions/words are appropriate for our maturity level with the understanding we still have room to grow. When we obey Lord God’s word we truly show how completely we love Him. That’s how we know we are living in Him and He is living in us. We can’t be perfect like Jesus, but we can strive to be like Jesus and we can strive to live our lives as Jesus did/does.
WBFWE
Song: Open The Eyes Of My Heart Lord by Daywind Studio Musicians
WalkByFaithWithExpectations / Darrick Kibble 