Here is the first method we will do this week: Read 1 John 3 and then journal about what you read. Just read the chapter and write down your thoughts about it.
If you would like to have this chapter read out loud to you, click HERE and then click the button that says "LISTEN". You can follow along as the Bible is read to you.
When you are done with this, please make a comment here on the blog and share some of your thoughts from the chapter. It would be great to see how God spoke to each of our hearts individually through this chapter.
12 comments:
Hey Everyone, here are some of my thoughts as I read this chapter:
-verse 3: The world is against Christ. Satan is the prince of this world and this world is against the Gospel.
-verse 4 and 9 - Christians are NEVER going to be perfect, but those who make a PRACTICE of sin are far from God. We are all going to mess up from time to time because we are not perfect, but doing the same sin over and over with no feelings of remorse will reveal your true heart toward God. A truly transformed person will not continue living in sin.
-verse 13 - we should not be surprised that the world hates us (the world hated Jesus and nailed Him to a cross)
-verse 14 - the sign that we know we have moved from death to life is that we care about others.
-verse 16 - we need to act like Jesus... lay down our lives for the sake of others. Jesus is our example.
-verse 17 - how can you love God if you can help your brother or sister and choose not to?
-verse 18 - "actions speak louder than words."
-verse 23 - this is God's commandment: To believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and to love others. Seems pretty simple to me!
To sum up this chapter, I would say that Christians should take sin very seriously (because God does), and we should love others (this includes other Christians as well as non-Christians).
Whoever sins without feeling guilty at all means that they don’t have the Holy Spirit in them. Someone who loves Jesus should hate their sin. We need to fight our sin.
We are supposed to love each other even if we have different ideas
People might get mad at us and hate us because we love Jesus, but they are living in the dark, while we have crossed from death into life.
We should help others no matter what their religion, race, gender, etc is.
To believe in Jesus and to love one another just like he commanded.
Isn't incredible to focus on the promises of God. God loves us so deeply that he considers us his children (vs.1) Only when you understand this amazing love and grace will we then able to love as we are commanded to in verses 11-23!
First, how cool is it that we are called children of God?! Even though we fall and stumble everyday, we are still called children of God! We are told in 1 John 3:7 to "let no one deceive you." So, we know as children of God, that Satan will try his hardest to deceive us and cause us to fall into sin (Satan wants us to make a practice of sinning - 1 John 3:4). But, if you allow the Holy Spirit to reign in your heart, you will not want to keep sinning (Ryan said this last night at Advance too)! Also, if the Holy Spirit reigns, you will want to love one another just as God has loved you (by sending His son to die for you)!!
Following after Jesus Christ is a constant battle - we are told in 1 John 3: 13 that the world will hate us! Satan is very sneaky, but we make the choice not to sin. Break the cycle now!
I am a child of God and I choose to love others because I want everyone to know the love of Jesus!
Verse 5 caught my attention as I was listening. It says, "You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin." I disagree with John's first statement, I believe the audience that John was writing to knew that Jesus appeared to take away sin, but people today don't know this. They think Jesus came to reveal a bunch of rules, bless the beautiful and popular, or punish us for all the bad things we've done. Some people only think that Jesus came to forgive us of our sins, but not take them away.
But then again I totally agree with John's statement. This verse is clear, Jesus came to take away our sin. Yes, He came to forgive our sin by dying on the cross, receiving the punishment we deserve. But, His resurrection - His victory over sin and death - makes it possible for us to say "No" to sin. We are going to be tempted for the rest of our lives, but Jesus' death and resurrection makes it possible for us not to sin.
This verse has given me tremendous hope because there are particular sins that I just can't shake. If Jesus came not only to forgive me of my sin but take it away, then I've got to stop relying on my own strength to repair me, and start allowing and joining Jesus' work to remove my ungodliness so He can replace it with His godliness.
What a great love that must be, that we could be called children of someone perfect. everyone who sins breaks the law, then shouldn't we all be punished? if not for Jesus i guess we would have.
Do not let anyone lead you astray. I guess like trying to get something or somewhere materialistic or earthly, you cant let it in the way of god. Sorta goes with no other idols.
Verse 9 is confusing, so once you are born a christian are you tied in for life? i guess that makes sense but I just never thought of it that way.
Love ones brother. sounds simple, right? ummm no. like love EVERYONE, no matter how many times they have wronged you. And always offer them help. That's what i call commitment if you can do that, AND i would say almost everyone can work on that.
For god is greater than or hearts, and he knows everything. Very true, like lots of people pray and ask for things that they have no idea would be bad for them, but would really end them up somewhere they would rather not be.
(Hearts condemn you- Conscience? I guess...)
Amen that Chris Corsi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved the website that read it to you :)
it said to me that whoever doesnt feel anything wen they sin means they dont have the holy spirit living inside of them, and anyone that just feels like something is tugging at there heart like they did something to hurt someone has the holy spirit living inside of them.
god is calling us to love everyone and to just be open to their ideas and not be so quick to judge people.
he loved us sooo much i just cant believe it.
Something that stood out to me was that God loves us no matter what with unconditional love. Even if we go against him by sinning. I also liked how it talked about how the world may hate us (verse 13) when we stand for God and don't do all the things that the world is telling us to do that are sins and do not follow what the Bible tells us to do.
A random thought that I am having is that I am so grateful God gave us the Bible, a guideboook to life. The Bible is a way to help you connect with God, and show you what to do with everyday worries and the right thing to do.
Wow this is packed! I feel like I could connect stuff from every verse to my life.
1. Other people aren't suppose to "get" me and why I make choices that are so different from them. Until they know God, my life choices will seem strange so I might as well expect it. 2. What I will be "has not yet appeared", so I will change- there is hope that I will be different then the mistakes I make now. 3. My hope must be in God working to change me, not how hard I work to change me and how successful I will be. 4. Am I practicing sin? 5. If Jesus came to take away sin, why would I insist on practicing it? 6. Wow if I insist on doing my own thing, it means I have never known God! 7. I am righteous if I practice doing the right things-it's not just something I can only be far in the future. 8. Dang... of the devil? 9. I CAN'T keep sinning if I'm a child of God. ouch! What happens if I find that I can keep sinning? Its not just my private habit/fun - it means I'm of the devil? Scary thought! 10. I want it to be obvious that I am a child of God, so I need to work on loving others better. 11. If I've heard that I need to love others for so long why aren't I better at it? 12. Jealousy is so easy until it kills. 13. They hate me because they are dead-hating is easy. 14. I can love because I have life. 15. If I hate someone then I'm acting like a dead person rather than someone who is risen to life who can do more than what is easy. 16. If God can love me enough to die for me, then how hard can it be for me to love someone else like that-lay down my pride, my fears and really care for others. 17. I'm not so giving to others' needs. How can I claim that I know God if I'm not trying to change that? 18. Do stuff! don't just sound good. 19. Our actions help us find our true self 20. God knows us better than we know ourselves and can help identify the truth about who we are regardless of how we may feel. 21. We can be confident- we don't have to live in fear that we are about to get blasted for doing something wrong. 22. we receive what we ask not just because we ask but because our actions follow our hearts to please Him. 23. Our basic life command: Believe and love others. 24. We are resting in God if we live like we believe Him and if we love others freely.
I've got a lot to work on.
God doesn't guarantee an easy or safe life to those who serve him. Doing what God desires is the greates possible investment. Standing for the truth might make you feel alone, but you aren't really alone... God is with you!!!
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