1 John 1 & 2

I was going to start Micah this morning, but during Sunday school a couple days ago the youth group and I started talking about what love means. This conversation led us to 1 John, which led to the designing of a t-shirt. So... we are going to do 1, 2 & 3 John this week. It's at the very end of the bible, almost to Revelation. We will start Micah next week.

***1 John 1 ***

I have to admit, this is my favorite book of the bible.

I read this chapter and am reminded of who I am and who God is.

I am a sinner. If I say that I am not a sinner than I am deceiving myself and calling God a liar. There is no way around the fact that I am a sinner. I am imperfect.

God is light, apart from God is darkness. Not like night, where it is dark but there is still some light from the moon and stars... apart from God life is can't see your hands in front of your face pitch-black. The kind of dark where you are afraid to take a step because you have no idea what is around you.

As sinners, we prefer the darkness. There is comfort in the darkness. There are voices that we trust coming from the darkness:
"It's ok to lie if you won't hurt anyone"
"You can look as long as you don't touch"
"No one will know"

These voices most often come from within, and they lead us away from the light.

But hear this... or read it THE LIGHT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE DARKNESS. God's love is more powerful that our sin.

Which means no matter how deep we get in sin and darkness if we but confess our sins God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness and bring us back to path of the light.

We can not walk the path of light of alone, we must journey with and be led by God.

Lead us O God, today and everyday. Amen.

***1 John 2***

I used to hear a lot about the antichrist and about how he was coming soon to take over control of the world and all kinds of evils would happen. Many different people have claimed that they know who the antichrist is and usually it is someone who differs from them politically.

John believes that there is not one antichrist that is going to come and rule in darkness but there are many who will come... and many who are have already come.

Anyone who denies Christ and the Father are antichrists. Anyone who works against God's desires for humanity are antichrists.

That means we should not be looking for one person, but many. Thousands, maybe millions or billions. (Sidenote: Most scholars believe that the antichrist character in Revelation is a reference to Emperor Nero)

Actually, it means that we whould not focus on worrying about who the antichrist is. Instead, we should focus on how we are living our lives. Are we living in the light and doing what God desires? Or are we wandering in darkness?

Let it shine!