1John 2: 1 – 17

December 30, 2022

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

It’s an easy thing, really. Put God first in all you do and say and you can rest assured of your rest in Him come the time.

Yes; I’m smiling. “Easy thing to do”. But over the years I’ve learned that it becomes easy. Establish good habits, like Morning and Evening Prayer every day, reading Scripture every day (we’ve got a good leg up on that right here, don’t we?), listen to Christian music – I have a dear friend who very much enjoys Ralph Vaughn Williams and has a Spotify play list of his music and the choirs who sing it. I play a lot of different games on the computer and I’ve found a site for word search games that has a religious section so all the word searches have to do with the Bible, the people of the Bible – that sort of thing. There are so many different ways to keep God right in front of us as the days go by in their hourly increments; you can find the ways that work for you. As a matter of fact – why not share in the comments the way you keep God before you. We might learn new ways!

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