First John

First John

A Commentary on Chapters 1 - 3

This little book has

5 chapters.

This book

is my choice for

the MOST important Bible book

for Christians to read this year.

This book

is written to guide Christians

 to grow

in their spiritual life.

AND

this book is written...

to inform those

who think they are Christians and are not -

so

they can understand the definition of a "Christian" and

understand HOW to become right with God.

This book

answers

many questions

that people have about God.

This book

answers questions such as :

* Am I right with God... right now - today?

* Would I go to heaven if I were to die right now?

And

it gives answers to

those who need the answer to the question -

* What do I need to do to get right with God?

Chapter 1 verses 1 - 4

In these verses,

John reminds us

that he was an eye-witness

to the

words and works of Jesus.

He was

one of the 12 Disciples.

John is saying - 

What I am writing I know to be true

because

I am an eye-witnesses.

John's purpose

for writing this book includes:

  *   That readers may have spiritual fellowship with us.

Meaning:

That readers may have fellowship with those who have seen Jesus -
a fellowship of finding out
about the things that those who have seen Jesus know about him.
And receiving the joy and blessing of knowing those things.

*   That readers may have closer fellowship with God

*   That each reader's joy may be full.

New King James Version

Verses 1 - 4 

say,

That which was from the beginning, 

which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes,

which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled,

concerning the Word of life —

² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear

witness,

and declare to you

that eternal life which was with the Father and was

manifested to us—

³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,

that you also

may have fellowship with us;

and truly our fellowship is with the Father

and with His Son Jesus Christ.

⁴ And these things we write to you

that your joy may be full.

Verses 5 - 7

In these next verses,

John highlights

light and darkness.

Light refers to God's attributes and godly concepts.

Darkness refers to sinful attributes and concepts.

Light is

truth, righteousness, and holiness.

Darkness

is the lack of those things.

Verses 5 - 7 

say,

" This is the message which we have heard from Him

and declare to you,

that

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

If

we say that we have fellowship with Him,

and

walk in darkness,

we lie

and

do not practice the truth.

But

if

we walk in the light

as

He is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another,

and

the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. "

John

speaks

bluntly

to us

about

Truth.

~

Truth is Truth

no matter what we think about it.

If

we walk in darkness,

we do   not   walk with God.

If

you

look like the world,

you are

walking in darkness.

If

you

see nothing wrong

with the world around you

in regards to morals and behavior -

you are

walking in darkness.

If

your

life

 ( your character, your words, your actions, your attitudes )

looks more and more

like

Jesus and his Bible commands

because you are trying to follow him

then

you are

walking

in the light.

Romans 12:2 NASB

says

" Do not be conformed to this world,

but

be transformed

by the

renewal of your mind,

so that

you can prove

what the will of God is,

that which is

good and acceptable and perfect.  "

Consider our page: Renewing your Mind.

We renew our mind

by

reading the Bible with a teachable heart.

Note that:

To be

right with God

sometimes means

to be trouble with the world.

Inspirational-Prayers
Life Quote:

Truth is what GOD says is Truth...

No matter what someone else tells you,

No matter what you believe,

No matter what you feel,

No matter what your experience.

Verse 8

Verse 8 says,

" IF we say that we have no sin,

we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. "

This verse reminds us that

we all have sin that we are not even aware of.

For example,

we all have ungodly attitudes and thoughts

that we have not taken note of.

We all have hidden pockets of

hardness against God's will

that we have not discovered and dealt with. 

Yet -

some people think they have NEVER sinned.

Once when I was talking to a man about the Gospel,

he told me

he had never sinned.

That man was

an example

of someone

who does not

understand truth

and is greatly

deceived. 

Verses 9-10

Verse 9

is a key verse of

First John

and 

of the entire Bible.

-

It reminds us that

if we repent of our sins, God forgives us.

After

we initially repent to God of our sins

and dedicate our life to Jesus Christ -

we will sin again..... and again..... and again.

On this earth,

we can never say, "I will never sin again."

But we can say,

"I can get forgiveness of my sins

by repenting to God. "

Verse 9

" If we confess our sins,

He is faithful and just

to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness. "

Verse 10

" If we say that we have not sinned,

we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. "

Repentance

is

about

feeling badly about our sin

 ( feeling godly sorrow about sinning )

and

sincerely wanting

to change to be more like Jesus. 

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT says - 

" For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience
leads us
away
from sin
and
results in salvation.
There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow.
But
worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance,
results in spiritual death. "

Godly sorrow leads us to repentance.

Godly sorrow and sincere repentance

leads us away from sin.

But

worldly sorrow

is about feeling bad because we got caught,

and worldly sorrow does not significantly change our behavior.

Every time

the Holy Spirit convicts our heart,

we need to

repent

to our heavenly Father

and ask for forgiveness.

Or -  our heart becomes a little hardened.

Over time,

this lack of

repentance

makes our heart get harder and harder.

A hard heart is distant from God.

Hebrews 3:13 reminds us,

" But exhort one another

every day,

as long as it is called “today,”

that none of you

may be hardened

by the deceitfulness of sin. "

In speaking about

repentance,

I want to clearly say...

It is NOT true that a Christian will go to hell

if he or she neglects to repent

of every sin that he or she commits 

but it is true that

if

we neglect to come to God in repentance

when the Holy Spirit convicts us of some sin we do,

we are

allowing our heart

to

become harder 

toward God.

This attitude

can

lead us away from

a close relationship with God

and  instead

draw us toward

apathy toward God.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

verses 1 - 2

says...

" My little children,

these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.

And if

anyone sins, we have an

Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2 

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins,

and not for ours only but also for the whole world. "

Verse 1 says, "My little children."

So

he is clearly addressing believers. 

And he is reminding us believers

of the good news that when we sin -  we can repent.

Take NOTE:

All sins

except taking the end time Mark of the Beast

can be forgiven by God through our repentance

if we will sincerely repent.

Don't be deceived by the devil

into believing

that YOUR sin is too awful to be forgiven by God.  

We explain this on our page -  The Unpardonable Sin

Believers are children of God.

Technically

- and importantly -

We are not actually BORN on this earth as the children

of God. 

John 1:12

tells us that

we BECOME the children of God.

To be children of God,

we must be born again!

John 1:12-13

" But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. "

Take Note:

Yes, males and females are referred to as the sons of God - but males and females are also called the bride of Christ -
so please
don't get offended at the " sons of God " phrase in that verse.

Jesus said,

"Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Matthew 11:6

Verse 2 has the word

"propitiation. 

It is translated from

the Strong's Greek word # 2434 2434 hilasmós and means

"atonement."

It is explained as "an offering to appease (satisfy) an angry, offended party." 

https://biblehub.com/greek/2434.htm

Jesus removed the wrath of God from us.

-

The book of Leviticus -

with all its animal sacrifices

helps us to

understand the sacrifice of Jesus.

Leviticus

teaches us the basic ideas

of redemption and why Jesus had to come. 

Animal sacrifices

provide a picture

of the concept

that

sin separates us from God

and sin requires

a blood sacrifice to atone for sin. 

In Leviticus,

the animal sacrifice

had to be

perfect

without blemish or flaw. 

Jesus was  perfect  with no sin and no imperfection.

The sacrifice of animals

was bloody, messy, gross, and included lots of animal guts.

Leviticus therefore reminds us that

sin is

actually

awful and gross and horrible.

The sacrifice of animals covered sin

for a time

until

Jesus came

to truly deal with

our sins

by being the ultimate, perfect, sacrifice. 

Jesus

was

THE

perfect sacrifice

for all time.

Jesus never sinned.

He was totally holy and righteous.

Jesus was

100% God and he was 100% man.

Jesus is God just as much as Father God is God. 

And The Holy Spirit is God.

See our page on -  Explaining the Trinity

Only Jesus

could pay for our sins - because he is God.

A sinful human

could not redeem us from sin.

Below is a link

with

a very short

AMAZING video

to help you understand

the sacrifice of Jesus.

I do not know anything about the speaker.

Cut & Paste in your browser.

https://youtube.com/shorts/XmPDmzUmivo?si=WhRt3A4_BZjdBqsC

Verse 2 

"And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins,

and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

Those Words from God

Emphasize

that

ALL people

on earth

can

get right with God  and  go to heaven. 

God gives everyone

the opportunity

to repent and live for Jesus.

Yet

in Matthew 7:13-14,

Jesus said that

most people do not go to heaven.

Consider our page on Matthew 7:13-14 - Click here

Most people

neglect to

actually

choose

to repent and live for Jesus.

If you need to understand "the elect" - click here.

Most people follow the world.

And

the devil

is the god of this world.

Only a few follow Jesus.

The

following section

is very

important.

Chapter 2 verses 3 - 6

These are

key verses in First John.

In

chapter 2 verses 3 - 6,

John provides a test for us

to see

if

we are really Christians

or

if we are

just fooling ourselves into thinking we are Christians.

Introduction Reminder:

In Matthew 7:21-23,

we read that

Jesus

told us

that

some people

will think

they are going to heaven but they are not.

See our page Matthew 7:21-23

I remind you that

Jesus said

in Matthew 7:13-14

that

most people

will not go to heaven - even though -  heaven is available to ALL. 

Before

writing the

1 John chapter 2:3 - 6 

Scriptures,

some Bible versions

post a note

which says

THE TEST of KNOWING HIM

(meaning Jesus)

VERSE 3

3

Now by this we know that we know Him,

if

we keep His commandments.

4

He who says, “I know Him,”

and

does not keep His commandments,

is a liar,

and the

truth

is not in him.

5

But whoever keeps His word,

truly the love of God

is perfected in him.

By this we know that we are in Him.

6

He who says

he abides in Him

ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

No one

perfectly

obeys Jesus

by

keeping all the commandments and instructions of God.

Nevertheless,

God expects us to try to be obedient. 

-

God looks at our heart. 

John will explain

more  about this

 - in depth - 

later in his book.

I will give just a few words about it

before we move on.

Getting saved

 - which is repenting and then choosing Jesus as Savior and Lord - 

and then

God forgiving our sins and accepting us into his kingdom.......

has

nothing to do

with our good works that we have done - 

unless you want to call

repenting and asking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior

as works. 

The Bible does not call those things works.

You get saved

by

God forgiving your sins and accepting you into the kingdom.

This has nothing to do with your good works.

Getting saved

through God forgiving your sins -

has nothing to do with you being good enough.

God does not accept you after looking at your deeds.

You can do nothing

to contribute

to God accepting you for salvation.

Your good deeds do not contribute to your being saved by God.

That is true. Period.

It is also true that....

 if

you do not live a life of trying to be obedient -

it shows

that you did not understand salvation

and you are not

dedicated to Jesus as Lord of your life.

True Faith

in Jesus

results

in an obedient response to the commands of God.

Do you try to follow Jesus?

Do you KNOW Jesus as you LORD?

Click here  if you would like to

understand salvation better

and 

understand Bible verses and phrases more fully. 

John wrote verses 3 - 6

to help people

make sure they ARE Christians.

Chapter 2 verses 7 - 8

7 

Brethren,

I write no new commandment to you,

but an old commandment

which you have had from the beginning.

The old commandment

is the word

which you heard from the beginning.

8

Again, a new commandment I write to you,

which thing is true in Him and in you,

because the darkness is passing away,

and the true light is already shining.

John writes to "brethren."

He is writing

to people who are or claim to be

Christians.

He reminds us of the relevance of the Old Testament.

He also reminds us that darkness is passing away.

Part of that meaning is:

The time of darkness is coming to an end.

There will be a time when God will put darkness completely

in hell,

and the true light of Jesus will be fully shining. 

Chapter 2 verses 9 - 11

In these verses,

John gives more insights

into

walking in the light vs. walking in darkness.

Again,

John is giving us information

for us to reflect on

to see if

we are right with God.

-

And

John is teaching us HOW to walk in the light of Jesus.

John writes:

9

He who says he is in the light,

and

hates his brother,

is in darkness until now.

10

He who loves his brother

abides in the light,

and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

11

But

he who hates his brother

is

in darkness and walks in darkness

and does not know where he is going,

because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

As we read those verses,

many of you

are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit.

Many of you are realizing

that you need

to learn to love someone

who you are disliking or hating.

-

We do not have to personally " like " everyone. 

God tells us to LOVE -  not necessarily " like " everyone.

God's type of love is Agape Love - a deep unselfish love.

We need to understand

better and better

how to

LOVE

like God wants us to love.

We have lots of help for those who need to Forgive

How about starting with our page - How to forgive

We also have -

Praying for your enemies

God's word

is designed

to convict us

of areas inside us

that are

not

in harmony with God. 

God wants us to renew our mind

so we think - more and more - like Jesus.

-

The Bible heals our mind. 

- 

We renew our mind

by reading the Bible with a teachable heart.

People WILL hurt us.

Yet,

we need to learn to see them and the situation

from God's perspective.

We are called to love people and lead them toward Christ -

by our example.

-

God wants to teach us HOW to live Supernaturally. 

Learning to live supernaturally -

is a process.

~

As we read the Bible

with a teachable heart

which is 

a heart that is open to change to be more like Jesus  - 

our heart does change.......

our desires change, 

our thoughts, words, and actions change.

It is a supernatural process - but we need to yield to it.

Let's welcome the words of the Holy Spirit drawing us to change.

And

we need to obey now

and not wait till we "want" to obey.

We need to stir up

the desire to obey.

A beautiful song

to stir up our desire to change.

Song - Change me from the inside

Chapter 2 verses 12 - 14

In these verses,

John is encouraging the brethren - 

brethren of all ages.

12

I write to you, little children,

Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

13

I write to you, fathers,

because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,

because you have overcome the wicked one.

I write to you, little children,

because you have known the Father.

14

I have written to you, fathers,

because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I have written to you, young men,

because

you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,

and

you have overcome the wicked one.

John wants to give us some - Thumbs up - Encouragement

from the heart

of our

Father God.

Encouragement is important.

Paul

writes about it when he says,

Therefore encourage one another

and

build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Here is some encouragement

specifically to the young Christians....

1 Timothy 4:12 says,

 Let no one despise you for your youth,

but set

the believers an example

in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

The Bible gives instructions

on information

that must be taught

to children, teens, and young believers.

https://www.openbible.info/topics/young_people

Chapter 2 verse 15

15

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

"The world"

is a term that refers to

people on the earth who function apart from God.

These people are NOT actively resisting the devil.

The devil uses

these people 

and

the world systems that the devil is guiding -

as a

gigantic pressure push to us

toward sin.

The world

tries to influence you to think like the devil.

The world

tries to influence you to act like the devil.

The world

pressures you to do what the devil wants.

BUT 

God says...

"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,

but let

God transform you into a new person

by

changing the way you think.

Then

you will learn to know God’s will for you,

which is

good and pleasing and perfect."

Romans 12:2 NLT version 

The world systems

interact with you

to ...

deceive you,

tempt you, 

lure you closer & closer toward sin,

make you feel weak,

discourage you from following God,

and

take away any confidence you have in God.

The World -

gives you anxious thoughts,

while implying

that the way to get rid of the anxiety

is by

doing what the world wants you to do. 

The World

gives you fearful thoughts,

while implying

that the way to get rid of the fear

is by

doing what the world wants you to do. 

The World

gives you 

a feeling of  hopelessness,

while implying

that the way to get rid of the hopelessness

is by

doing what the world wants you to do. 

Rise up against all that.

AND

Put on

YOUR ARMOR

The Whole Armor of God

Ephesians 6:11-13 NKJV

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness
in the heavenly places.
¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Verse 11 tells us that

a big key

to victory against the devil

is 

putting on our

ARMOR.

I normally put my armor on EACH day.

It makes me feel

Strong and Steady and Ready

to give God glory through my words and actions

throughout my day.

 We have lots of

Prayers for Putting on God's Armor

Here

Look at what God says about...

Our Shield

Ephesians 6:16

" Above all, taking the Shield of Faith with which

you will be able to quench

all the fiery darts of the wicked one. "

Let's

use our Shield of Faith to defeat the devil's

doubt darts and fear darts,

and all the darts he sends our way.

AND

Let's

Spend time with Christians

who

praise God,

who

have a thankful, joyful attitude,

and

who have a

thriving godly mentality.

-

And

Most Importantly

let's

Spend time with God 

reading our Bible with a teachable heart.

Chapter 2 verses 15 - 17

I am repeating verse 15

  because it is closely associated

with the next few verses.

Therefore I wrote it again

with the next verses.

15

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If

anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16

For all that is in the world

—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—

is not of the Father

but is of the world.

17

And the world is passing away,

and the lust of it;

but he who does the will of God abides forever.

A Key message of this chapter is

Do NOT love the world.

Check yourself. 

What parts of the world

do you

essentially elevate above your love for Jesus?

In what ways

are you following the world

instead of Jesus?

Since God says

do not associate and participate in darkness,

will you

refuse to indulge in sexual immorality

 - and - 

refuse to act like you approve of it? 

?

Silence indicates approval.

Many "Christians" are saying that

God changed his mind

on what is moral and what is immoral. 

Will you believe that lie?

Consider our page on

Victory  over  lust.

Since God says

do not associate with darkness...

Will you

give up

sinful  "fun" and "pleasures"  that the world offers?

Will you refuse to

entertain yourself with witchcraft or the occult?

Afterall, people say -

it is JUST a song or 

JUST a movie.

The devil works to

weaken our godly beliefs.

Faith in God is increased

by hearing the Scriptures over and over.

And belief in the devil's words

comes by hearing his thoughts over and over. 

The devil uses the entertainment industry

to slowly

indoctrinate people to his ideas.

The devil is the

Master of Deception.

If you think you can't be deceived,

you are already deceived.

Check out our page about...

Ways our children and teens are being lured into ungodly

entertainment.

Here

Chapter 2  verses 18 - 19

18

Little children, it is the last hour;

and as you have heard that

the Anti-christ is coming,

even now many anti-christs have come,

by which we know that it is the last hour.

19

They went out from us, but they were not of us;

for if they had been of us,

they would have continued with us;

but they went out

that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

The word

" anti-christ "

is mentioned in those verses.

(The word is also mentioned in verse 22.)

THE anti-christ.....

There will be a man during the end times who the Bible calls "the antichrist." The anti-christ's power will come from "the devil" and God will mostly let the anti-christ rule the world.

And during the tribulation, the antichrist will force everyone to take the Mark of the Beast. That mark will be placed on either the right hand or the forehead. Without the mark, you will not be able to buy or sell.

If you take that Mark, the Bible tells us that you are forever doomed to hell with no way of escape. God says he will NOT forgive a person for taking THE Mark. That is the only sin that God will not forgive. 
To learn more, visit our page on the Mark of the Beast. 

In addition

John tells us that there will also be many "little" antichrists. 

The word "anti-christ"

can refer

to anyone who

either

is the one who will later 

claim to be Messiah or Ruler of the World, etc. 

or

anyone who is in opposition to Jesus.

-

That second choice has a vague definition.

See more information below.

https://biblehub.com/greek/500.htm

-

Note about End Times

In some cases,

the Bible refers to any time after Jesus died

as end times.

We see that in verse 18

when it says "the last hour."

I invite you to an interesting page called:

A Day is like a Thousand Years

Chapter 2 verses 20 - 23

In verses 20-23,

we read about

the Holy Spirit 

who guides us into all truth.

He guides us

to all knowledge that we need.

I remind you that in

John 16:13 a NAS

it says,

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes,

He will

guide you into all the truth."

20

But you have an anointing from the Holy One,

and you know all things.

21

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth,

but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

23

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either;

he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Concerning verse 23:

In

John 14:6 NKJV

Jesus said to him,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me."

John 10:9 a NKJV

Jesus said,

"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved."

Chapter 2:24 - 25

In this section, we are reminded to...

Let TRUTH abide in us - in YOU and in ME.

.

24

Therefore let that abide in you

which you heard from the beginning.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you,

you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

25

And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

The word "abide" is a key word

in the book of

First John.

Already we have read about that word

in

Chapter 2 verses 6, 10, 14, 17, and now verse 24. 

John is teaching us

the importance of abiding

and how to tell if we are abiding in Jesus.

The next set of verses continues to speak about

ABIDING.

Chapter 2:26-28

Abide

is a key word in this next set of verses.

A second key word

in these verses 

 is

Deceive.

Deceive = lead astray

It is wise

to always remind ourselves

that the

devil

often brings people across our path

to deceive us.

(Those people may or may not know that they are deceiving us.)

We need to be on the alert.

These deceivers can be "Christian" teachers or preachers.

Some Christian teachers and preachers
are false teachers and preachers.

And all Christian teachers and preachers
are flawed people
even if they love God deeply.

Note:

Someone may appear to know God and serve him

yet

be teaching ungodly concepts. 

Let's be like the Bereans

who were praised

because they checked out what Paul said to them

by looking at the

Old Testament Scriptures

to verify Paul's words.

Acts 17:11

Verses 26 - 28

These things I have written to you

concerning those who try to deceive you.

27

But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

28

And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

DECEIVE

Verse 26 reminds us to be alert to the possibility of

us being deceived.

And in Matthew 24:4

Jesus tells us to be watchful for deception.

And in Matthew 24:11 NAS

Jesus tells us,

"Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many."

Deception is happening in our world today.

We have many false prophets - and false teachers.

See our Prophets page.

Also:

https://www.openbible.info/topics/deception_in_the_end_times

ABIDE

In John 15:5-6 NKJV

Jesus says,

“I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in Me,

and I in him,

bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me,

he is cast out as a branch and is withered;

and they gather them and throw them into the fire,

and they are burned.

More Commentary on

Verse 28

-

I'll write out verse 28.

It says,

"And now, little children, abide in Him, that when

He appears,

we may have confidence

and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."

If

we are abiding in Jesus,

it means that

we are

right with Jesus.

Those who are right with Jesus,

can have confidence

when they die.

They can be excited not ashamed at seeing Jesus.

First John is written

to expose

if

you are right with Jesus or not.

As

we continue down the page,

you are encouraged to

continue to evaluate

if you are truly right with Jesus.

There is

no fear

of Jesus

for those who are

right with Jesus

and understand what salvation means.

We have

no fear of dying and seeing God

because

we have understanding of the tests about

whether we are right with God - 

or not right with God.

We are enjoying our relationship with our Lord

and

we are ready to meet him at any time.  

-

Just like

the little girl below.

The picture above

is how Jesus wants you to look

when you

see him face to face!

Ephesians 5:1 TLB

explains how we are to follow God:

Follow God’s example

in everything you do

just as a much - loved child imitates his father.

That little girl has no fear of her father.

She knows that

she is her father's beloved child.

~

God wants his children

to KNOW him and delight in him.

Delighting in our Dad.

STRONG Christians

remind themselves that they need to 

intentionally

motivate themselves to stay close to God

(reading and listening to things that rejuvenate their faith)

or

they will un-intentionally drift away from God.

As the old hymn says,

" We are prone to wander (away from God.) "

Chorus:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
  Prone to leave the God I love:
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
  With Thy Spirit from above.

Take Note:

If you have wandered away from God,

he has

his arms open to you.

No matter

how far you wander,

God will welcome you back

as long as you are alive on this earth.

I remind you...

None of us knows when we will die and meet God.

Remember 1 John 2:28....

"that we not be ashamed before Him at His coming."

(His coming at the rapture or his coming at our death.)

So let's keep ourselves close to God.

Chapter 2 verse 29

The word

Practice

is a key word in

the book of

First John.

-

We see "practice" in verse 29 below.

29

If you know that He is righteous,

you know that

everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

The word

" Practice "

is found multiple times

in First John.

Let's look at

* * *

*

The Word

Practice

1 John talks about

the importance of....

"practicing righteousness."

We either

"practice righteousness"  or   we "practice sinning."

And just like practicing a musical instrument -

we get

better and better

at what we practice.

* * *

*

With sinning - our heart gets harder and harder.

*

With righteousness - our heart gets softer and softer.

Below are

" Practicing " verses in First John

1 John 2:29 NKJV

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who

practices righteousness is born of Him.

1 John 3:7 NKJV

Little children, let no one deceive you.

He who practices righteousness is righteous,

just as He is righteous.

1 John 3:10 NKJV

In this

the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest:

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God,

nor is he who does not love his brother.

No one is perfect.

Believers are not perfect.

Believers do, however, make

" following God's Word "

an important goal and a priority in their life.

And

when they sin,

they

repent to God and then re-focus

on pleasing God.

Review:

1 John chapter 2 talks about  -

practicing righteousness.

Think of practicing

a musical instrument.

You practice

to get better and better at it.

Chapter 3

In chapter 3,

we pick up another key concept.

It is the concept of

KNOWING God.

What does it mean to  KNOW  God?

Chapter 3:1

Verse 1

 " Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,

that we should be called children  of  God!

Therefore

the world does not know us,

because it did not know Him. "

What does it mean to KNOW God?

?

And...

How are we KNOWN by God?

?

Below

we will discover

the answers to those questions.

I remind you that

"God"

is a

Trinity

of

Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

See
our Trinity page.

Let's look at

the   important   verse

of

1 Corinthians 8:3 NKJV.

It says...

"But if anyone loves God, this one is KNOWN by Him."

* * *

*

The AMPC version puts it this way...

" But if one loves God

truly

[with affectionate reverence, prompt obedience, and grateful 

recognition of His blessing],

he is known by God

[recognized as

worthy of His intimacy and love, and he is owned by Him]. "

1 Corinthians 8:3 AMPC

1 Corinthians 8:3

tells us

we must LOVE God

to be

known by God.

Next,

I will explain what it means

to LOVE God.

It is helpful at this point -

to recognize that God KNOWS everything -

so

we realize that in Matthew 7:23,

Jesus is saying

he never knew them as a true disciple.

Meaning -

He had no intimate relationship of spiritual fellowship

with them.

In Matthew 7:23,

Jesus says,

" And then

I will declare to them,

‘I never knew you;

depart from Me,

you who practice lawlessness!’ "

 A person

either

practices righteousness or practices lawlessness.

There are only two choices.

1 John 3:4

explains that

Lawlessness is sin.

Consider reading our page Matthew 7:21-23

HOW

do we

know

if

we love God?

Answer:

John 14:23 NKJV

" Jesus answered and said to him,

“If anyone loves me,

he will keep my word;

and my Father will love him,

and

we will come to him and make our home with him.""

John 14:15 NKJV

Jesus says,

“If you love me, keep my commandments."

-

So trying to be obedient to the Bible

is seen by God as

LOVE.

YET

Many churches today are teaching that

obedience

is not necessary to following Jesus.

Those churches are incorrect. 

They have been deceived by the devil and his demons.

The devil and his demons

try

to guide - or push

people who say they are Christians

into one of several

ditches.

In each ditch,

people believe

wrong things that hurt them,

and these wrong things

draw them away from God's will for their life.

Ditch One - 

A person in this ditch is likely to say...

I am saved by grace and not works
so
I should not be thinking about my personal sins. 
God
does not want me
to think about my sins or try not to sin. 
If  I do that,
some people say I will put myself under the law
instead of grace.

Beth says -

A lot of my content on this site

and on this page -

is directed

at

people who are in Ditch One.

Cut & Paste in your browser

https://youtu.be/hU1nYQwofIM?si=onlH6v0uDuQbjb3p

Ditch Two -

A person in this ditch is likely to say...

I continually worry and beat myself up
about
how sinful I am.
Every times I hear about obedience to God or repentance - 
I feel condemned. 

Ditch Three -

A person in this ditch is likely to agree with these statements ...

I don't think about or evaluate my spiritual life.
I am a good person.
I know I am fine with God because I am a better person
than
most of the people I know.

Ditch Four -

A person in this ditch is likely to say...

I'm going to heaven. I am a Christian.
I think about God every now and then.
I fellowship with other believers at church or in my friend group. I make sure I am not a Bible thumper.
I do not want to look like one of those irritating Christians who talk about God all the time.
The topic of sin is only for people who are not Christians.

Many people who are in those ditches

are not actually Christians.

God does not want anyone

to live

in a ditch.

I'm going to explain

HOW

God wants us to live

as opposed to

living in a ditch.

This will be enormously refreshing news

especially to those who live in the second ditch.

I will give you the Scripture (Ephesians 5:1)

and then

I will elaborate

in depth on it.

The following is for people who ARE right with God.

And if you need to get right with God

- do so -

and then

I have the following Good News for you.

Ephesians 5:1 TLB

gives us the answer as to how we are to live.

I have mentioned that verse before. 

It says,

" Follow God's example in everything you do

just as a 

much - loved child imitates his father. "

-

The verse is a picture of

a happy child's loving obedience.

I'll elaborate...

God wants us to live our life

thinking

like a child would

who has

very loving

 - and emotionally healthy -

parents.

This child

adores his parents and is adored by his parents.

This child

is eager to please his parents

but does not worry about pleasing them.

This child

gets sad and changes his ways

when he disappoints his parents

because he loves his parents.

This child

lives in a place of delight -

fully knowing

he or she is fully loved - and is very emotionally safe.

And " that Parent"  in Ephesians - is God.

We all

have that parent - his name is God.

Even if

our earthly parents were terribly abusive

or

just terribly flawed

we have Father God

who

loves us fully and completely.

God wants to heal us of our emotional wounds.

Jeremiah 30:17 a NKJV

says

" For I will restore health to you

And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord," 

In Psalm 37:4,

God tells us he wants us to delight in him.

"Delight yourself in the Lord"

A person who delights in God,

is

tenderhearted

and loves God

and is learning to love and obey God's commands

because

he knows they please God,

and he knows they protect us

and they bless us with the best life we can have.

-

Click for Links to pages

that help us receive and enjoy God's love

Let's

go back and

review

First John chapter 2

where

it defines...

KNOWING

God.

* * *

*

1 John 2:3-6

says,

" Now by this we know that we   KNOW   Him,

if

we keep His commandments.

He who says, “I know Him,”

and does not keep His commandments,

is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But

whoever keeps His word,

truly the love of God is perfected in him.

By this

we know that we are in Him.

He who says he abides in Him

ought himself also to walk just as He walked. "

1 John 2:3-6

Chapter 3 verse 2

2  " Beloved, now we are children of God;
and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
but
we know that when He is revealed,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

This verse

speaks of the time

when Jesus will be revealed

and

we shall see him face to face.

Arriving in Heaven

Psalm 17:15 AMP

" As for me, I shall see Your face in righteousness.

I will be [fully] satisfied

when I awake [to find myself] seeing Your likeness. "

Consider visiting our page on this Psalm 17 Bible verse.

in Heaven

"We shall be like him."

In heaven, we will no longer have

a fleshly will that pulls us toward sin.

We will be totally content to obey God.

In heaven,

we will have the feelings and attitudes of Jesus.

We will have

no

selfishness, envy, anger, self-pity, pride, greed, etc.

Our attitudes and our whole self

will be eternally purified.

God gave us this earth experience

so that

we

can decide for ourselves

with our own free will

if

we want to follow God for all eternity

and

be under his rules for all eternity.

-

If we do,

then we must start  following God  here on earth.

Yes, you can choose God on your death bed - if - you have that opportunity.

But -

some people die in a car crash, or a fall, or a quick heart attack or stroke, etc.
and never have time to repent and get right with God.

AND -

the longer you live,
the more times you will reject God
and instead
choose the world and your desires.

So  -

you may end up with a heart so hard and so worldly

that you do  not   want God anymore

even on your death bed.

That happens often.

The choice

to follow God or reject God

is

the main thing this world is about - 

it is about choosing.

Matthew 16:24 NLT

Then

Jesus said to his disciples,

“If any of you wants to be

my follower,

you must give up your own way,

take up your cross, and

follow me. "

If

we make that decision in this life -

even as we deal with life's difficulties and temptations - 

then

we will spend eternity in heaven with God 

with all the blessings that come with heaven

and 

where

there are no fleshly hindrances

to obeying God. 

-

We will be free of fleshly, ungodly things.

-

In heaven, 

our

mind, will, emotions, 

and whatever kind of body we will have - 

will

unite with Christ to do his will.

-

Our JOY

will be greater than we can ever imagine!

God's goal

is to enjoy and bless

for all eternity

people

who freely choose him.

The Great writer

C.S. Lewis

became a Christian very reluctantly.

At a point in his life,

he

realized

the Bible was true

and

he would go to hell

if

he did not repent and give his life to Jesus.

He described himself

on that day

as

"the most reluctant convert in all England."

After giving his life to Jesus and following Jesus

for a period of time,

he found that

"he was surprised by JOY!"

And therefore, he named a book he wrote:

Surprised by JOY!

.

C. S. Lewis was surprised

by

the joy of following Jesus.

He was also surprised by the joy of meeting and marrying

his wife who was named

JOY!

God gave him a wonderful wife named JOY!

Chapter 3 verse 3

3 "And everyone

who has this hope in Him [Jesus]

purifies himself, just as He is pure. "

Verse 3 tells us that

those who put their hope - their life - in Jesus

will

purify their heart and life. 

They WILL change to look more like Jesus.

A true believer 

WILL

extend effort

to purify his heart and life.

Jesus paid a huge price

to pay for our sins.

We need to show

our gratitude and respect for him

by trying not to sin.

Some people think

we just

sing worship songs and say we are Christians

and

God will purify us without any effort from us.

In Matthew 15,

Jesus corrected that view

by saying,

" You hypocrites!

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you,

for

he wrote,

⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips,

    but

their hearts are far from me.

⁹ Their worship is a farce, 

for

they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

It is true that

it is the Power of God that changes us.

But

God will not violate our will.

He waits until we

yield and cooperate with Jesus

AND 

put forth effort.

As we follow Jesus and read the Bible,

we will become

hungry for righteousness and holiness.

We have an inspirational page about

developing hunger for righteousness. 

See our page on this topic.

Short Dedication Prayer

Dear Loving Lord,

I will read your Bible with a teachable heart.

I will respect your Bible words.

I will let your Bible words guide me each day.

Thank you for guiding me closer and closer to you.

In love and devotion, I pray,

Amen

Copyright © 2025 Beth McLendon of Inspirational - Prayers.com

Dedication Song

Chapter 3 verse 4

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness,

and sin is lawlessness.

Jesus taught us in Matthew 7:21-23

that lawlessness

is the reason

that many people do not go to heaven.

He tells us that

many people will think they are going to heaven

and they are not

because they live a life of lawlessness.

Lawlessness

is

making up your own rules.

Lawlessness is Sinfulness

A person is

either

practicing lawlessness

or

practicing righteousness. 

First John emphasizes that point.

Also consider visiting our page on Matthew 7:21-23

Chapter 3 verses 5-6

5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Note:

Abiding in Christ and Sinning

are opposites.

To abide with Christ

is the opposite of

abiding with sin.

As we mature

in Christ,

we love Jesus more and more.

And

we see the beauty of obedience.

Young Christians

often choose

impulse instead of introspection.

They need to learn to yield to wisdom.

They need to learn to take every thought captive.

See our page on HOW TO -

Take Every Thought Captive.

-

You can learn

to catch

your thoughts and redirect them !

As we grow in Christ,

we have

more introspection and less impulse.

As we mature,

we value our relationship with the Lord

more and more

and

we realize that

we do not want to do anything

to grieve the one who loves us the most.

The Bible says,

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."

The Bible tells us

to choose to live a life of holiness

and then

our worship will be a beautiful thing to God.

N o t e :

All Christians

have to struggle with their fleshly, carnal desires

as they grow in their sanctification.

Sanctification

is about learning to live according to the Bible.

We all

wrestle

against

the carnal part of us

as it struggles to have its way. 

As we seek to closely follow God,

we look more and more like Jesus.

We will have more and more

victories

over our carnal battles.

Chapter 3 verses 7-8

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

I remind you

this is about

"Practicing Sin or Practicing Righteousness."

Click here to learn more about

The devil

Click here to learn more about

The Strategies the devil uses on us

Chapter 3 verse 9

9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The NLT translation of verse 9

says

Those who have been born into God’s family

do not

make a practice of sinning,

because

God’s life is in them.

So they can’t keep on sinning,

because they are children of God.

The Bible is clear that we will never attain

perfection

on this earth.

For example, 

We know that

verse 9

does not mean

that a

Christian never sins

because John gave us instructions

in 1 John 1:9 for

WHEN we sin.

Note:

True Christians

hear the Holy Spirit

convicting their heart. 

-

If you never hear the Holy Spirit convict you of sin,

you better re-check yourself

to see

if you are a Christian.

Addressing the next part of the verse -

"For his seed remains in him "

Beth says -

I would guess that refers to the seed of the Word of God.

Meaning - The Bible verses are in his heart.

For example,

Psalm 119:11 NLT

which says...

" I have hidden your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you. "

Helpful

Extra Clarification

from

Commentary on Verse 9

Especially focus on the red section.

Below is taken from

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_john/3-9.htm

Giles Exposition of the Entire Bible

says -

Whosoever is born of God,

in a figurative and spiritual sense;

who are

regenerated, or born from above;

who are quickened by the grace of God,

and have Christ formed in them;

who are made partakers of the divine nature, and new creatures in Christ....

doth not commit sin;

does not make it his trade and business;

it is not the constant course of his life;

he does not live and walk in sin,

or give up himself to it;

he is not without the being of it in him,

or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation,

but he does not so commit it

as to be the servant of it,

a slave unto it,

or to continue in it.

Chapter 3 verses 10 - 17

In these verses,

God begins by reminding us

again

that we must

" practice righteousness."

Repetition indicates

a desire to highlight the importance. 

In these verses, God explains in detail

that those who say they are believers

yet

they do not love people

actually are not true believers.

~

Most of us reading these verses will be convicted.

That is normal.

We all know that we need to improve in this area.

And

as a result of reading these verses,

it is normal for us to

now - today - 

to get determined

to make

loving others

a priority.

-

Our reaction to these verses,

will expose a lot about

the condition of our heart.

10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest:

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

11  For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

12  not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.

And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

13  Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

14  We know that we have passed from death to life,

because we love the brethren.

He who does not love his brother abides in death.

15  Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16  By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

17  But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

How will you react to these verses?

 Will you make permanent changes?

Will you make a decision

to

learn more about

how

to love others?

-

Let's remind ourselves that we need

to

produce...

Actions - not just intentions.

Do you need help forgiving someone?

We have lots of practical and inspirational help.

Here

"The man who would truly know God

must be separated from the world;

he must

be set apart,

not just in outward conduct,

but in the very attitude of his heart."

A. W. Tozer

Chapter 3 verses 18 - 23

18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,

but in deed and in truth.

19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.

20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.

22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

Concerning Verse 18

I am reminded of the following Scripture.

In Matthew 21,

Jesus gave us a story about two brothers

in order to explain

that to be

obedient,

we must do and not just say we will do.

Words are not enough.

Words alone are not obedience.

Jesus was teaching a crowd and he said the following....

" A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’

²⁹ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.

³⁰ Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to Him, “The first.”

~ ~ ~

The crowd of people easily saw that

obedience is action.

Concerning Verse 19

John has included several tests

for believers to pass

in order to know that they are true believers.

One of those tests is in verses 18 - 19.

Verses 18- 19

tell us that one of the tests of walking in Love

is...

Do we....

respond with deeds of love

and not just words of

love?

Chapter 3 verse 24

24  Now he who keeps His commandments

abides in Him, and He in him.

And by this we know that He abides in us,

by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Concerning Verse 24

This verse says - 

Keeping Bible commandments

show we are abiding in and with Jesus.

I will address "abiding" more - a little further down.

First,

I will highlight a verse that is associated with verse 24...

This next verse reminds us that

Keeping Bible commandments

show our love for Jesus.

The Verse:

Jesus says in John 14:23 says,

“If anyone loves Me,

he will keep My word;

and My Father will love him,

and We will come to him and make Our home with him."

So,

John 14:23

talks about those who obey Jesus  -   LOVE Jesus.

And

1 John 3:24

is saying

that those who obey Jesus  -  abide in Him and with Him.

Abide

More insights into the word "Abide."

The Word "Abide" is prominent in John 15. 

Note:

John - the Gospel and First John

are written by the same John.

In John 15:4-5

Jesus says,

" Abide in Me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine,

neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him,

bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. "

In these "abide" verses,

we remind ourselves

that abiding

in Jesus has to do with walking with him every day. 

Walking with Jesus = Following Jesus

As we learn more about

Abiding...

We learn to talk with him throughout the day.

We learn to lean on him during trouble.

We learn

to

make decisions based on what Jesus would do.

We learn that reading the Bible is vital  - like physical food.

The Holy Spirit uses the Bible

to transform us to look more and more like Jesus.

Beautiful Song:

I will Serve the Lord

by Carman

A song to motivate us!

First John

is an amazing book

that helps us to grow spiritually -

which includes cleansing and purifying ourselves.

If you are not right with God,

 - today - 

is

the day to get right.

Are you ready to

Dedicate or Re - Dedicate

your life to Jesus? 

Let's acknowledge that

Jesus was God and he lived a perfect life so he could be

our sinless lamb.

He was crucified for our sins.

He was crucified for MY sins.

His blood was shed for our forgiveness of sins.

He gave his life for us

and

we now give our life to him.

Our body is not our own. Our life is not our own.

We must LEARN to yield to God's will.

We receive him as our Savior - the one who saves us from hell.

We receive him as our Lord -

and we will obey him by obeying his Word.

To be a Christian...

You are dedicating yourself

to

making Jesus the Lord of your life

We are saved by Faith and not by Works.

Yet

if

we ARE saved - 

our commitment to God

will result

in works

of obedience.

All you have to do

is to sincerely repent of your sins

and make

Jesus the Lord of your life.

Sounds simple - yet - it is not easy.

We must give ourselves to Jesus.

Our body is not our own. Our life is not our own.

We must LEARN to yield to God's will

as taught to us in God's Scriptures.

The tests in 1 John help us to evaluate if we truly love God. 

To be a Christian...

You are dedicating yourself

to

making the Jesus

(the Jesus of the Bible) 

the Lord of your life.

(That means learning to obey the Bible commands.)

That's what salvation is.

You yield to God and become right with God.

Then

it is important

to daily aim to follow Jesus

and grow spiritually more and more like Jesus.

If you mess up, sincerely repent, dust yourself off

and get back to following Jesus.

That is the sanctification process.

When you do that - it is called

Practicing Righteousness.

We must understand the difference between

Practicing Righteousness and Practicing Lawlessness - 

because

Practicing Lawlessness is the path to hell. 

The next section will explain what that means.

NOTE: 

Sanctification is simple - but 

it is not easy.

You will mess up and sin.

It is not easy to keep

Jesus on the throne of your heart. 

We have to

put him there - every day.

And yes,

if

you neglect to put him there each day -

when you realize what you have forgotten to do -

put him back on the throne!

And then dedicate yourself again

to stay close to God.

Remind yourself to read the Bible and pray!

Defining - Believe in Jesus

Trusting God

is

Putting your Faith in God

is 

Believing in Jesus. 

-

What does it mean to "Believe in Jesus" ?

If

we truly believe IN Jesus,

we believe Jesus when he said that we need to repent of our sins.

Our belief has led us to the action of repenting.

If we truly believe IN Jesus,

we believe the Bible - which says

that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

And our belief has led us to a feeling of thankfulness

for his incredible sacrifice on the cross for us.

Our belief has led us to actions of praise and thanksgiving to God.

If we truly believe IN Jesus,

we take note of

how wonderful he is and how worth following he is -

and therefore

Our belief leads us to love him and obey him as best we can.

If we truly believe IN Jesus...

we believe His Word is true.

ALL of it - Old Testament and New Testament!

( Jesus believed the Old Testament was fully true and said so. )

That doesn't mean we understand every single thing in it.

Mature Christians -

Believe the Bible is a reliable, historical document from God.

We believe that the Bible's Words are...

God's loving instructions to us

to give us the path to the best life -

which is a God-honoring life.

-

Heavenly Father,

I rejoice with you about each person who visits this page.

You love each one. You want a deep relationship with each one.

You have a good plan and purpose for the life of each one.

You want each one to be in heaven with you for all eternity.

I pray that you would stir each one who visits this page - to read your Word each day. 

I pray that each one would yield to your guidance. 

May each person delight in you more and more. 

In the Life - Transforming name of Jesus, I pray,

Amen

See our page Explaining Salvation.