Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Nov 19, 2024, 8:36 PM
Passage Read: 1 John 5 - 2 John 1
Meditation Verse: 1 John 5:1
Thought
"Whoever loves the Father, loves the child born of Him." At first read, this seems like a command that I have to love every Christian, which would be true if every Christian loved the Father. But what it says is that anyone who loves the Father must love everyone else who also loves the Father. That's not the same. For there are many false believers, false brothers, some who deliberately teach what is contrary to the truth but still claim to love God.
Nov 18, 2024, 8:38 PM
Passage Read: 1 John 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:5-8
Thought
"Let no one deceive you." John here says that no one who abides in Jesus continues to sin, but he practices righteousness and therefore is righteous. That seems heretical to my modern ears. I have been trained by the church, in the church, that I am a sinner and I cannot cease from sin. Have I misunderstood or have I been deceived by the same people who were to teach me the truth?
Nov 17, 2024, 8:40 PM
Passage Read: 1 John 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:10-11
Thought
Love for brothers is key to walking in the light so as to guard a believer from stumbling. Love for other believers protects us from sinning! But the one who hates his brother is still walking in darkness and has no idea how to live and behave. Now, we think that love for brothers means we put up with everyone who calls himself a brother, even if they don't do what God calls believers to do.