1 John 2:28-3:3
English Standard Version (ESV)
28 And now, little children, abide in him,
so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame
at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be
sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
3 See what kind of
love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and
so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know
him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be
has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see
him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies
himself as he is pure.
Job 13:15English Standard Version (ESV)
15 Though he
slay me, I will hope in him;
yet I will argue my ways to his face.
yet I will argue my ways to his face.
(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+13%3A15&version=ESV)
Job 14:7
English Standard Version (ESV)
7 “For there
is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+14:7&version=ESV)
The I John scripture verse
caught my eye today for a number of reasons.
It states the importance of living a life that is pleasing to our Lord
and Savior. There are times that I have
to wonder how good I am doing at that. I
try living a life that is pleasing and then I hear that someone doesn’t like
me, or that I have offended someone with my words or actions that weren’t meant
to be offensive. I was once told I
offended someone because I told her I didn’t need her help in the kitchen and
all I was trying to do was serve her, not realizing she felt a duty to help. Why is it that actions and our words become
twisted and turned against our true intent?
The second reason I was
attracted to this verse was because it spells out how we should practice
righteousness. I noted in the reading
the word “practice” because we cannot fully obtain that until we are changed to
be like Him, which won’t happen until He appears. That does not mean that we are to blatantly
go out and sin just because we know we are not perfect. The evidence of a true Christian is one that
continually practices righteousness. We
cannot judge a persons heart, that we cannot see but we can see evidence of a
changed heart.
Then, I John 3:3 caught my
eye! “And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies
Himself as He is pure.” I began
to contemplate what John meant by these words.
What does it mean to hope. At
that point Job came to my mind and I quickly headed to the book of Job. A man who had everything almost lost
everything, yet he continued to “hope” in the Lord. As I was reading scriptures in Job I found a
footnote that caught my eye, it said, “
‘Hope’ is to wait for something. This
hit home to me in a big way. When our
hope is in Christ, we may or many not be patient in the times of waiting but we
still trust that His will is going to be done.
It may not be in the time or manner that we had “hoped” for yet we
should not lose sight of that hope. Job
wished to die but he refused to not hope in the Lord. He didn’t know why he was being tormented but
he knew that God was in control.
Today as we face troubles,
tribulations, illnesses, and all the struggles this world brings, there is one
thing we can hold to and that is a hope in Christ. He may or may not deliver us the way that we
are asking but one thing is for sure, when our hope is in Him our future is
secure.
Seek Him and know that He is
in control and that justice will be served.
I pray that He will find you righteous in His eyes and that the world
may know that you are His by the righteousness you practice today.
Seeking Him with all my
heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment