{"id":559,"date":"2017-09-13T06:48:09","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T14:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=559"},"modified":"2017-09-13T06:48:09","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T14:48:09","slug":"2-john-4-6-do-this-one-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=559","title":{"rendered":"2 John 4-6 Do This One Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 John 4-6 <\/strong>\u2013\u00a0It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth,\u00a0just as the Father commanded us.\u00a05\u00a0And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning.\u00a0I ask that we love one another.\u00a06\u00a0And this is love:\u00a0that we walk in obedience to his commands.\u00a0As you have heard from the beginning,\u00a0his command is that you walk in love.<\/span><\/p>\n

We ought not to tire from reading of John bringing the message of love to us over and over again.\u00a0 None of us really have perfected love.\u00a0 Our first instinct to love lingers from the time before we became Followers of Christ. That first instinct, and it is very strong, is to love ourselves. It is not that the love of God has not flooded our hearts and souls and that we don\u2019t understand and walk in love.\u00a0 No, if that were so we would not be his.\u00a0 But the instinct to love ourselves first, is a dogged, persistent foe. It creeps out sneakily. The tired mom of a newborn has found a quiet moment to snuggle into a chair to take a very brief sojourn into the land of peace and self as she nibbles on chocolate and reads a book that transports her to another time and place.\u00a0 She is so thankful for the little bit of \u201cme time.\u201d\u00a0 Just as she is settled she hears it.\u00a0 The cries of her baby. She will surely go quickly to her child because her love is true.\u00a0 However, for a moment, she protests \u201cOh no, I just wanted a little break!\u201d\u00a0 How about the man who planned to go the ballgame on Friday night.\u00a0 He\u2019s been looking forward to it.\u00a0 A place where he can forget about his responsibilities from a long work week and just enjoy the game and eat a hot dog.\u00a0 Ah yes!\u00a0 Then on Thursday his wife says \u201cHoney, do you have any plans for tomorrow?\u00a0 There is a wonderful concert tomorrow night that I have, for years, wanted to see.\u201d\u00a0 Well, the husband thinks, for at least a moment, \u201cOh no, I\u2019ve been looking forward to going to the ballgame!\u201d\u00a0 However, he responds to his wife \u201cOh sure Sweetheart, I\u2019d love to go with you to that!\u201d\u00a0 Our first thoughts are often about self, but then, as the love of God transforms us, we are changed from love of self to love of God and love of others.\u00a0 We are transformed\u2026slowly.\u00a0 Our latter state, thanks to God, is better than the former.<\/p>\n

Yes, John continuously leads us to love in a varied, yet consistent, fashion.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not tire of the Word teaching us love.\u00a0 John would say \u201cWhen you have truly learned to live in Godly love, then we will talk about other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth<\/span>…\u201d\u00a0 John returns to the fact that love and truth are inherently and eternally linked.\u00a0 If we have the Truth within us, then we will have love within us.\u00a0 If we have love within us, then we have the Truth within us.\u00a0 Just this is fuel for never ending revelation and application.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026just as the Father commanded us<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 John, though the Lord has certainly given him the authority to do so, John tells us to walk in truth because this is what the Lord has commanded.\u00a0 Yet, John, the last living Apostle who was chosen and walked with Jesus, is humble and includes himself as also being under the command.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that even the \u201cApostle of Love\u201d understands that he is still growing in the faith (He also uses \u201cwe\u201d in 1 John 1:8-10<\/strong>).\u00a0 Let us walk in truth as the Father has commanded us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning.\u00a0I ask that we love one another<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 The commandment of love is not new.\u00a0 Jesus gave it to us from the beginning.\u00a0 Furthermore, even in the Ten Commandments, we see that love is behind them.\u00a0 Since obedience to God is an element of the love of God, we see the law of love even in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 John, from the love of God that causes him to love others, asks us to continue in the greatest commandment, to love.\u00a0 We are called to love as God has loved us (John 15:12<\/strong>).\u00a0 That\u2019s a whole lot of loving!<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is love:\u00a0that we walk in obedience to his commands<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 John has, in these three verses returned to love and its basic elements: truth and obedience. As Jesus said in John 14:15<\/strong>, if we truly love Him, we will obey Him.\u00a0 One of the proofs of the love of God is obedience to Him.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 How can we, who owe all to Him, say that we love Him if we will not obey Him?\u00a0 Not that we can ever live perfectly without sinning.\u00a0 1 John 2:1-2<\/strong> is clearly written with the awareness that we will sin.\u00a0 But we ought not to live in any sin. We ought not push back and demand that God let us do what He has said that we are not allowed to do.\u00a0 We ought to remember that He is God and we are not.\u00a0 Since God gave all to love and save us, then love, gratitude, obedience and living in His Truth should be our response.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you have heard from the beginning,\u00a0His command is that you walk in love<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Family, Jesus made in all very simple for us.\u00a0 He made it uncomplicated, Matthew 11:28-30 <\/strong>\u201cCome to me,\u00a0all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,\u00a0for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.\u201d \u00a0This is how we are to live in love.\u00a0 It is uncomplicated.\u00a0 Let us say to ourselves \u201cThe whole of God\u2019s commandment is to for me to love.\u00a0 Love, only love.\u00a0 That is all!\u201d\u00a0 Remember that Jesus taught us that all the commandments are summed up in the commandment to love (Matthew 22:40<\/strong>).\u00a0 Beloved, let us love.<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/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.<\/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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 John 4-6 \u2013\u00a0It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth,\u00a0just as the Father commanded us.\u00a05\u00a0And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning.\u00a0I ask that we love one another.\u00a06\u00a0And this is love:\u00a0that we walk in…<\/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":[2382,2383,2380,617,366,1460,311,2381,2386,2384,23,1442,792,1855,60,1915,100,44,512,2378,13,101,94,279,2379,1917,429,17,2385,26,711,1206,270,779,2377,15,2387],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-apostle-of-love","tag-application","tag-ballgame","tag-beginning","tag-children","tag-command","tag-commanded","tag-concert","tag-easy","tag-elements","tag-father","tag-garden-of-eden","tag-gentle","tag-gratitude","tag-humble","tag-instinct","tag-john","tag-joy","tag-light","tag-lingers","tag-love","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-mom","tag-newborn","tag-obedience","tag-perfected","tag-psalm","tag-response","tag-rest","tag-revelation","tag-self","tag-sin","tag-souls","tag-tire","tag-truth","tag-uncomplicated"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","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=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":560,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions\/560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}