WORD From The Woods
1 John 2:28-3:10
“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. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 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. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother”
In this passage, John calls us little children and talks about us being a part of the family of God. He says that if we’re truly walking with Christ, we are now children of God. John puts it pretty plainly, he says if we walk in righteousness we’re born of God, if we walk in sinfulness we are not of God. Does this mean that if we sin at all that we aren’t truly saved or that we can lose our salvation by slipping up? Of course not! John is talking about a lifestyle, an ongoing pattern of seeking Christ and desiring to walk in his ways versus a lifestyle of sin and rebellion against Christ where someone would rather do things their own way instead of God’s way. Think of it like this, we’ve all seen a rookie in the woods, wether it be on a yarder, a shovel, a processor, a rigging slinger, a cutter, or a truck driver, you can spot a rookie from a mile away. Why is this? Because they don’t know what they’re doing. There is a right way and a wrong way to do things and it shows when when you say you’re one thing but you act like another. Imagine taking a granola munching, burlap wearing yuppy from the streets of downtown Eugene and throwing him in the woods. Now, I’m not in any way meaning to disrespect folks like this, God loves them just as much as you and I, we were all created in the image of God. But, the contrast between our tree hugging “owl saving” friends and a logger is about as big of a contrast as you can get between two people. This is how it is between us and God without Christ. Just as the granola crowd is completely opposed to almost everything we do as loggers, apart from Christ we are totally opposed to God and the way we live shows that. If we truly want to follow Christ as children of God, we have to seek Him and walk in his ways. As we grow in Christ we become more like Him, this is called the process of sanctification and it’s called a process for a reason. It’s not something we can do on our own but something the Holy Spirit does in us by His power not our own. We will continue to struggle with sin as long as we live this life, but by God’s grace and power Jesus Christ will shine though us in spite of our weaknesses!
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-
1 John 2:28-3:10
“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. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 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. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother”
In this passage, John calls us little children and talks about us being a part of the family of God. He says that if we’re truly walking with Christ, we are now children of God. John puts it pretty plainly, he says if we walk in righteousness we’re born of God, if we walk in sinfulness we are not of God. Does this mean that if we sin at all that we aren’t truly saved or that we can lose our salvation by slipping up? Of course not! John is talking about a lifestyle, an ongoing pattern of seeking Christ and desiring to walk in his ways versus a lifestyle of sin and rebellion against Christ where someone would rather do things their own way instead of God’s way. Think of it like this, we’ve all seen a rookie in the woods, wether it be on a yarder, a shovel, a processor, a rigging slinger, a cutter, or a truck driver, you can spot a rookie from a mile away. Why is this? Because they don’t know what they’re doing. There is a right way and a wrong way to do things and it shows when when you say you’re one thing but you act like another. Imagine taking a granola munching, burlap wearing yuppy from the streets of downtown Eugene and throwing him in the woods. Now, I’m not in any way meaning to disrespect folks like this, God loves them just as much as you and I, we were all created in the image of God. But, the contrast between our tree hugging “owl saving” friends and a logger is about as big of a contrast as you can get between two people. This is how it is between us and God without Christ. Just as the granola crowd is completely opposed to almost everything we do as loggers, apart from Christ we are totally opposed to God and the way we live shows that. If we truly want to follow Christ as children of God, we have to seek Him and walk in his ways. As we grow in Christ we become more like Him, this is called the process of sanctification and it’s called a process for a reason. It’s not something we can do on our own but something the Holy Spirit does in us by His power not our own. We will continue to struggle with sin as long as we live this life, but by God’s grace and power Jesus Christ will shine though us in spite of our weaknesses!
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-