whoever claims to abide in him ought to live [just] as he lived. 1 John 2:6 NABRE
John’s first letter to his community is a great teaching on love. John takes the message of love and reinforces it again and again in the writings that are under his name. In this section of the letter John is encouraging the reader to keep Jesus’ commandments. He is making a comparison, that if you say you know Jesus and love Jesus but don’t keep His commandments, well, then John calls you a liar. It is like any relationship, if you are married and say you love your spouse but the first chance you get you cheat on them or tell something private about them, well you are not acting like someone who respects or loves their spouse. All relationships are the same way, when we love a friend we honor the friend always, we don’t do anything to hurt our relationship or make our friendship seem fake or fabricated. John goes on to say, if we claim we abide in Jesus (to remain in Jesus) than we should live as Jesus lived. Today we might say if we talk the talk we should walk the walk. Living as Jesus did is not easy, especially since we have a tendency to think about ourselves quite a bit and Jesus was thinking about the other all the time. It is a powerful challenge. Jesus came and lived precisely for this reason, to show us how to live and how to love one another. So if we say we are His, then we should live as he lived.
We might think it is impossible to live as Jesus lived, but we have many examples from the scriptures, there are others we know that lived sanctified lives like Jesus and hopefully around us today we will have people who are trying to be holy like Jesus. Follow the example of others and live like Jesus.
Do you know Jesus and want to live like him? Do you have friends like Jesus?
It is a powerful challenge. Jesus came and lived precisely for this reason, to show us how to live and how to love one another. So if we say we are His, then we should live as he lived. Click To Tweet#bible’#godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #holy #live #John #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways