Thanking Our Abba Father

Meditations on the Epistles of Saint John

October 22, 2020

Thanking Our Abba Father

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.

He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

1 John 2:1b

In this first letter of John, he affirms that God is light and if we claim to have fellowship with God, but willingly continue to live in sin, we are not practicing the truth. John is teaching the followers of Jesus to own their sin and weakness and seek God’s power to move into His light.

John’s teaching includes two of the greatest promises in all of scripture. First, we are not alone in our battle against living in spiritual darkness:

“But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.”

1 John 2:1b

Take a moment to truly let this promise sink in. Can you remember a time recently when you struggled with temptation? Like the Apostle Paul, we all can claim our moments when we

“want to do what is right, but (we) can’t. (We) want to do what is good, but (we) don’t. (We) don’t want to do what is wrong, but (we) do it anyway.”

Romans 7:18b-19

Even when we give in to temptation, our advocate, Jesus the truly righteous one, is pleading for us before God’s throne! Please, let this truth sink deep within your spirit.

Secondly, we don’t have to be afraid to own our sins and confess them to God:

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

1 John 1:9

Because Jesus, the truly righteous one, is pleading for us, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. This surely is the Good News of the Gospel.

My Takeaway: Each Sunday at breakfast, Cheryl and I make a note of special moments – blessings from God – we experienced the previous week. We put the notes in a mason jar, and on New Year’s Eve we will review all of our blessings of the year. This Sunday, we will include these blessings from First John.

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.