Faith & Love: A One Year Bible Reading Plan - Part 11Sample

Today’s Chapter is 1 John 3. Let’s start with verses 6 and 7:

"No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous." 1 John 3:6-7

When you read this, you may think of yourself and realize you aren’t perfect and you still sometimes miss the mark of living a righteous life. You may think, “I still sin." John is making the point here that if you’ve truly met and spent time with Jesus, your desire to function outside God’s will will change. If you do not want to be transformed and still want to continue living separated from God, you’ve probably never had a sincere encounter with Jesus. Our righteousness is in Jesus, and when we live from this paradigm, His right living becomes our right living.

John gives us the simple yet profound answer to God’s will in verse 23. John is quoting Jesus when he shares Jesus’ commandments.

1 John 3:23: "And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us."

Let us draw near to Jesus and abide in Him and, with confidence, believe in Him and love one another as Jesus loves us.