This post is Day 13 in a series of studies about “1 John”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).

1 John – Day 13

John does not mince his words! For him, everything is black and white. Paul says ALL have sinned, so is there any hope? Jesus is the one to bring us hope, and understanding of the scriptures. We all have a tendency to selfishness, thinking we are right. We are disappointing Him.

1 John 3:7-8,10

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, … The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work … Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

The Thought

John doesn’t mince his words! For him everything is black and white. No in-between. But Paul tells us that “ALL have sinned” (Romans 3:23), so is there any hope?

Jesus is the one to bring us hope, and understanding of the scriptures. When John tells us that the one who sins is of the devil, the original Greek suggests “practicing or continuing to do wrong, regularly or by intention”. Most believers are not guilty of that, but all of us are guilty of “small sins”. We all have a tendency to selfishness, thinking we are right, and being irritated by other people’s faults. Most of us need to take the log out of our own eyes before we try to remove the speck from the other’s (Matthew 7:3).

The last part of these verses seems to have been added almost as an after-thought. Just a throw away comment by John about loving our families. Whether John was talking about church family or blood relations, we’ll never know, but it is a thought worth meditating.

If I don’t love my family (whoever they are) I am not God’s child! That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love me, it means that I am not living as He would want me to. I am disappointing Him.

Action

Thank Jesus today for forgiving all your sins, past, present and future.

Ask Him to show you if you have been unloving to members of your “family”, pray for His help in changing your attitude to them.