<\/p>\n
1 John 5:1-5 <\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Everyone who believes\u00a0that Jesus is the Christ\u00a0is born of God,\u00a0and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.\u00a02\u00a0This is how we know\u00a0that we love the children of God:\u00a0by loving God and carrying out his commands.\u00a03\u00a0In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.\u00a0And his commands are not burdensome,\u00a04\u00a0for everyone born of God overcomes\u00a0the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.\u00a05\u00a0Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone who believes\u00a0that Jesus is the Christ\u00a0is born of God,\u00a0and everyone who loves the father loves his child as wel<\/span>l.\u201d\u00a0 Suppose someone wanted to come and visit you at your home, but made the following request \u201cWould you please not have you son be around us?\u201d\u00a0 Obviously we would be taken aback and ask \u201cWhy would you make such a request?\u201d\u00a0 Then the supposed friend said \u201cWell, I just don\u2019t like the kid.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like the way he looks at me.\u00a0 He just creeps me out.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love you, but oh your kid is creepy.\u201d\u00a0 Well that person would be \u201cPersona non grata!\u201d\u00a0 We would reply to them \u201cIf you don\u2019t like my son, if you don\u2019t want my son in your life, then you cannot possibly love me!\u00a0 You are not welcome in my house, or in my life!\u201d\u00a0 How much more so is it that one who does not love Jesus, the Son of God, does not love, or know God!\u00a0 Any and all persons who do not love Jesus cannot truly love the Father.\u00a0 Only through the Son is the Father found (1 Timothy 2:5<\/strong>).<\/p>\n \u201cThis is how we know\u00a0that we love the children of God:\u00a0by loving God and carrying out his commands.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 Jesus said that the proof of loving Him is to obey Him (John 15:14<\/strong>). \u00a0Even in the Old Testament God showed that what he desired obedience more than apologies (1 Samuel 15:22<\/strong>).\u00a0 Family, we can firmly assert that He who truly loves God no longer wants to sin.\u00a0 The heart will be to please God.\u00a0 We cannot practice sin and still love God (1 John 3:9<\/strong>).\u00a0 Though, being in the flesh, we will continue to sin, we must never excuse it, or trample the love and grace of God and not resist but relish in sin.\u00a0 We must hate to sin and love and desire to not sin that we might please God (Romans 7:21-25<\/strong>).\u00a0 Those who love God love to obey and please Him.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.\u00a0And his commands are not burdensome.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 Simply said, if we love God we love His commands.\u00a0 God, through Moses, gave us the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17<\/strong>).\u00a0 Through Micah, God made it easier to understand and narrowed it down to three requirements in Micah 6:8<\/strong> (see below).\u00a0 Then Jesus pared it down to just two in Mark 12:29-31<\/strong>.\u00a0 Those two being to love God with all that we are and to love each other as we love ourselves.\u00a0 I truly think that Jesus gave us two because we are dull and rebellious.\u00a0 He could have only said \u201c\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 We have already seen in 1 John 4:7-8<\/strong> that if we don\u2019t love each other we don\u2019t have the love of God within and so we don\u2019t belong to God. So, if Jesus had only said the first of the two greatest commandments it would have been sufficient.\u00a0 Number two is inclusive in number 1. \u00a0But people look for a way around what they know ought to be done.\u00a0 People who would rather live under rules than guided by the Spirit would rather live so because it is easier.\u00a0 Just do what it says.\u00a0 However, it is also easier to avoid doing what ought to be done because the law did not specifically say to do it.\u00a0 For example, Mom tells Johnny to make sure his little sister Jane makes it safely onto the school bus.\u00a0 On the way to the school bus there is a ditch that Johnny can safely jump across, but is too far for Jane. \u00a0Instead of telling her to go around the ditch, he lets her try to jump and she falls and skins her knee.\u00a0 When Jane gets home after school and Mom sees Jane\u2019s skinned knee, she becomes angry that Johnny did not protect her.\u00a0 Mom asks Johnny why didn\u2019t he protect his sister and not let her try to jump the ditch.\u00a0 Johnny replies that Mom did not ask him to protect her from the ditch, but to make sure that she got safely onto the bus.\u00a0 Johnny said that he did hold her hand so that she got safely on the bus. That is why people like to live by laws, they can look for ways to go around them.\u00a0 People who want to live by the law find living by the Spirit burdensome.\u00a0 It is easier to hide an evil heart living by laws than by the Spirit.\u00a0 Living by the Spirit means knowing the heart and intent of God and living that way.\u00a0 There are no laws to live by, instead we know in every situation what to do because we know what God would do.\u00a0 What God would do is act in love, compassion, forgiveness and mercy.\u00a0\u00a0 So the law is limited by our rebellious nature but living by the Spirit is all encompassing.\u00a0 Living by love is all encompassing.<\/p>\n \u201c4\u00a0for everyone born of God overcomes\u00a0the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.\u00a05\u00a0Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 God loved us.\u00a0 We responded to His love and loved Him.\u00a0 We respond by faith to this wonderful God who greatly has loved us.\u00a0 We have believed in Him and so we followed Him.\u00a0 We follow Him all the way to heaven.\u00a0 The world would want to hold onto us, to grasp and claw at us to remain in its power of death.\u00a0 But through faith in Jesus, we share in His victory and have overcome the world.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n Love, love, love.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019re not getting tired of hearing of it.\u00a0 It is one of the foundational characteristics of God.\u00a0 It is why He has saved us.\u00a0 It is how He saves us.\u00a0 It is proof to ourselves that we are saved.\u00a0 It is what causes us to not sin against God or others.\u00a0 Love, love, love!\u00a0 So simple.\u00a0 So easy!\u00a0 It is not without trials, but Family, we need to concentrate on walking in His love, there is the love of God completed in and through us.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 We can do that, can\u2019t we?\u00a0 God\u2019s love, all the answers are there!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/span><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 John 5:1-5 \u2013\u00a0Everyone who believes\u00a0that Jesus is the Christ\u00a0is born of God,\u00a0and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.\u00a02\u00a0This is how we know\u00a0that we love the children of God:\u00a0by loving God and carrying out his commands.\u00a03\u00a0In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.\u00a0And his commands are not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1047,2360,2363,2307,156,1968,147,2361,2364,8,100,13,1035,94,17,2365,2187,2362,2036],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-answer","tag-born-of-god","tag-burdensome","tag-children-of-god","tag-christ","tag-commands","tag-compassion","tag-creepy","tag-forgiveness-and-mercy","tag-jesus","tag-john","tag-love","tag-loves","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-rebellious","tag-samuel","tag-ten-commandments","tag-timothy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions\/553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}