Good Morning Friends,
“Dear friends, I am not writing you a new
command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old
command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its
truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true
light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother
is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and
there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is
in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is
going, because the darkness has blinded him.” (1 John 2:7-11)
The world is constantly seeking something
new. There must be some key to life that we have not yet discovered. There must
be some new secret that will ensure success and happiness and fulfillment. But
it isn’t something new that will provide what we desire! Rather, it is
something very old that we need.
A few years ago there was a contemporary
Christian song about getting back to the basics of life. That is John’s
encouragement here, to go back to the basics, back to the fundamentals, back to
the old command. The old command that John refers to is simply to “love one
another.” There is nothing new about that command, but it is the one we need to
hear again and commit to all over again.
As far back as the Old Testament book of
Leviticus, God has been giving the same command to His people. “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)
Our problem isn’t that we’ve never heard the
command before. Our problem is that we haven’t been doing the old things that
God has given us to do.
In the days of the New Testament there was
one thing new about this command: it could be seen lived out perfectly in the
life of Jesus. Until Jesus came no one had ever seen that. And more than just
living it out Himself, He offers the power (His own Holy Spirit) to enable us
to live it out, too.
It is an old command we need, coupled with
the new power that comes from Jesus.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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