Living Face to Face

December 5, 2016

Living Face to Face

Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

2 John 1:3

Truth and love are the continuing themes in John’s letters. It is evident that John fully embraced Jesus’ assertion that he is our way, our truth and our life. (John 14:6) John uses the word, truth, five times in the first four verses of chapter two, making it clear that John was very concerned that we never move away from the truth of Jesus in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. John used the word, love, three times in verses four and five as he again stressed God’s command for us to love one another.

In the middle of John’s teaching about truth and love, John includes verse three (quoted above), a promise from God. At first, this promise may appear to be a bit of a conundrum. Do you remember how Brennan Manning summed up God’s grace? “God loves us unconditionally, just as we are; not as we should be. Because no one is as they should be.” (All is Grace by Brennan Manning) Manning said God loves us unconditionally, yet John seems to condition God’s love, mercy and grace on our living in God’s truth and love. Is this a conflict? I think not.

The scriptures are clear that “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). I’d suggest that is the very definition of unconditional love. However, how do we get to experience God’s great love? “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10). We experience God’s love by giving our hearts to God and choosing to live in His truth and love.

John is not teaching that God’s grace, mercy and peace are awarded to us because we get right with God by living in truth and love. Rather, when we turn our hearts to God, we realize we are—face-to-face! There is nothing between us and God, and our faces shine with the brightness of his face. And as we seek to live in truth and love, we are transfigured as our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him. (See 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, The Message)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.