Archives

1 John 1:1-7, My take…

Apr15

1 John 1: “1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.”

I read this and in my mind, I imagine John as if he is speaking to me. He is validating his proclamations about Jesus. I imagine what it must have been like for him to say, “I have heard with my own ears, and I have seen with my own eyes the person of Jesus, the One the Father has sent us and who has appeared to us. We (meaning he and Christ’s followers) proclaim this so you can have the same experience. Our fellowship is with God and Jesus, and our joy is complete! It’s for you as well.”

John’s memories are spilling over confirming the authenticity of who Jesus is to him, the apostles, and fellow believers. He knew of what he spoke because he had lived every moment of those memories. To him the words of Scripture were profoundly fresh and empowering. That’s the effect John’s encounter with Jesus had on him. And he tells us it’s for us as well?!?!? If we try to tap into what John must have been feeling, we could just as convincingly proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. But are we? If not, why?

John listened to Jesus speak and John spoke to Jesus. They spent time together. Are we listening to Jesus? (by reading the Word) Are we speaking to Jesus? (by spending time with Him in prayer) Or if not, are we loosing that personal convincing relationship with the Word of Life John referred to? I think so! Too much time away from the book that expresses God’s thoughts will obviously result in a disconnect a dullness of hearing. We will struggle to understand spiritual truths. We won’t realize how much we need Him. We will loose sight of who God is. Resulting in a nonchalant attitude towards our Savior.

John’s personal interaction with Jesus was difficult to deny. It was convincing. What about us? Is our relationship with Christ convincing? The times are desperate. Lies are being touted as Truth. Do we even recognize the deception?

Dear Readers, when it comes to our faith in Christ, the time has come to be convincing!

1 John Chapter 1 X

Learning how to let God help!

Feb9

th-3

I’ve come to realize that crying out to God concerning my problems is not all there is!

   Pouring out our hearts to God does offer some relief from the burdens we carry.  But, if we walk away after depositing our load at Jesus’s feet, then we have left prematurely! And I wonder if it’s not too long before we find ourselves carrying that very same burden again, finding it just as heavy as it was before. 

Ever been there? Then join the club!

   For most of my Christian life, unloading my burdens in prayer was a faithful ritual. The temptation (or fiery dart) of that was in thinking that was all that was required of me. My real problem was I had been doing a lot of talking, but very little listening. 

If I could put into words, here is what I sensed my LORD was saying to me:

  You pour your heart out to me, pretty consistently! That is good! And I listen to you, but I can’t say that you listen to Me.  I want to help you with your problems, but you will have to do less talking and more listening for that to happen. 

    You see I was going to the Source for the answers to my problems but as soon as I got through unloading them on God, I’d say Amen, then go on my way. I would ask God for His help, but I wouldn’t hang around long enough to find out how He planned on helping me!

   You know what? I didn’t really know how to listen to God. Which meant I didn’t know how to let God help me. 

  So, how do we let God help us?

   When we spend time with God as we read and study the Bible, He will lead us to the very verses that addresses our problems. It’s in accepting and applying those truth’s to those problems that will lead to the solutions we are so desperate for. That’s how we listen! That’s how we learn!