WORD From The Woods
1 John 1
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
The book of 1 John, is the first of three letters written by the Apostle John. These short letters contain some of the clearest and boldest proclamations of truth in the whole bible, which is perfect for us loggers because we usually like things short and to the point. When John speaks about the word of life which was from the beginning, he’s talking about Jesus Christ himself and the fact that He has existed eternally with the Father since before the creation of mankind. The awesome thing about this, is that God had a plan for the redemption of mankind even before the universe we live in was created. Even before man had sinned in the Garden of Eden, God had a plan of salvation for us because in His great sovereignty, He knew that we would all fall into lives of sin. As John says in this passage, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. God can’t have any fellowship with darkness and those that walk in it. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness then we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say we have no sin, we lie and His truth is not in us. We must repent and turn our hearts to trust in Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters in any of our lives if we don’t recognize the fact that without the light of Christ, we are walking in darkness. Our country is walking further and further into darkness every day and if we as Christ followers don’t stand up now and share the light of Christ with the world around us, our nation is doomed to utter self-destruction. But, this starts in our own hearts. If we walk in darkness ourselves, how will we be effective in telling others about the light of Christ? In our industry, we are around a lot of darkness all the time on the landing, from the foul language to the constant perverse sexual joking. It’s really easy for us even as Christ followers to just blend in with the other guys and join in the darkness, but we can not, we must not do that any more. One of the good things about being around a lot of darkness is that when a light is lit, it’s very obvious and seen by all! Just don’t hide your light or you get lost in the Darkness yourself.
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-
1 John 1
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
The book of 1 John, is the first of three letters written by the Apostle John. These short letters contain some of the clearest and boldest proclamations of truth in the whole bible, which is perfect for us loggers because we usually like things short and to the point. When John speaks about the word of life which was from the beginning, he’s talking about Jesus Christ himself and the fact that He has existed eternally with the Father since before the creation of mankind. The awesome thing about this, is that God had a plan for the redemption of mankind even before the universe we live in was created. Even before man had sinned in the Garden of Eden, God had a plan of salvation for us because in His great sovereignty, He knew that we would all fall into lives of sin. As John says in this passage, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. God can’t have any fellowship with darkness and those that walk in it. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness then we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say we have no sin, we lie and His truth is not in us. We must repent and turn our hearts to trust in Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters in any of our lives if we don’t recognize the fact that without the light of Christ, we are walking in darkness. Our country is walking further and further into darkness every day and if we as Christ followers don’t stand up now and share the light of Christ with the world around us, our nation is doomed to utter self-destruction. But, this starts in our own hearts. If we walk in darkness ourselves, how will we be effective in telling others about the light of Christ? In our industry, we are around a lot of darkness all the time on the landing, from the foul language to the constant perverse sexual joking. It’s really easy for us even as Christ followers to just blend in with the other guys and join in the darkness, but we can not, we must not do that any more. One of the good things about being around a lot of darkness is that when a light is lit, it’s very obvious and seen by all! Just don’t hide your light or you get lost in the Darkness yourself.
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-