I John 5:1-5 Christmas 2020!! Interesting: the word “commandments” appears three times in today’s reading (vv. 2-3) ; likewise, the word “overcome(s)” also appears three times (vv. 4-5). I was wondering if there was a connection, but I don’t see one directly. Naturally if we keep His commandments we will be overcomers. I reflected back …
Author Archives: Fred
December 24 / I John 4:12-21
I John 4:12-21 So many well-known verses…!! So today we have 16b, 18a, and 19. Probably the best is verse 19: We love because He first loved us. Verse 19 is “best” because it explains at the most fundamental level – we only know about and feel love at all because God is the source …
December 23 / I John 4:1-11
I John 4:1-11 I can hear Bill Gaither singing, “Greater…, greater…, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (v. 4b) And another oft-quoted verse: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for …
December 22 / I John 3:16-24
I John 3:16-24 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (vv. 17-18) I think I’ve mentioned before that St. Francis …
December 21 / I John 3:10-15
I John 3:10-15 John has used the word “righteous/righteousness” five times in yesterday’s and today’s readings, plus twice more in the last verse of chapter 2 (the immediate precedent to yesterday’s reading) – so seven times over a span of thirteen verses. Which begs the question, “What does it mean to be righteous?” An online …
December 20 / I John 3:1-9
I John 3:1-9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. (v. 9) We (I) often speak of being “born again”. We make that claim because we have accepted Jesus as our (Lord and) …
December 19 / I John 2:18-29
I John 2:18-29 I tend to notice Trinitarian verses and references when they appear in the epistles, and I saw that today in John’s writing – but with a bit of a challenge. Consider that the Father and the Son are mentioned together in verses 22, 23, and 24. But where is the Holy Spirit? …
December 18 / I John 2:12-17
I John 2:12-17 The first three verses – to the little children, fathers and young men… Have you ever noticed that nothing in John’s words to the little children in verse 12 is repeated in verse 13, but one of the three items addressed to the young men in verse 14 is a repeat of …
December 17 / I John 2:1-11
I John 2:1-11 The apostle John sets a pretty high (impossible) standard here: …whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. (v. 6) No one will ever achieve to the standard that Jesus set, but He does give us a model for Christian behavior. “Walk the …
December 16 / I John 1:1-10
I John 1:1-10 And now, the apostle John… He begins with his clear intent: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands … we proclaim also to you… (vv. 1, 3a) John is establishing his own …