Following the Lead of the Holy Spirit

 Meditations on the Epistles of Saint John

October 28, 2020

Following the Lead of the Holy Spirit

 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

1 John 3:17

John is teaching the church that because God loves His children, His children love others. Because of the love of God,

  “Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters” (3:16).

 (We know John didn’t divide his letter into chapters and verses and number them. Even so, the similarity between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 is quite stunning!)

 Verse 17, quoted above, makes it clear that John is concerned that we are called to work out Jesus’ command in our everyday life, not just in extraordinary times. In the passage, 1 John 3:11 – 4:6, John shows how the Holy Spirit enables us to respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters. I witnessed this a few years ago when friends, upon the prompting of the Spirit, called members of our church who they knew may be in danger of an approaching wildfire. My friends drove to the house in danger and moved many of the valuables back to their own home, out of harm’s way. A simple act, yes. But also, evidence of how the Spirit moves within us to fulfill Jesus’ command to love one another.

My Takeaway: This passage also contains a promise we never, ever want to lose sight of: “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4b). Of all the voices vying for our attention, we can rest assured that God will enable us to hear His voice! Hallelujah and Amen!

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.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

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.