1 John 1
We are greatly loved by our Father God! When we are confident of His love, we will be open to His light, allowing Him into our heart to see and know everything about us. If we aren’t confident that God is good or that God loves us unconditionally, then we don’t trust Him to turn on the light and see what would be considered unpresentable to someone with whom we want acceptance.
God’s love has also been given to us! We are recreated with a new nature upon making Jesus the Lord of our life and accepting His salvation, and that nature is a nature of love! Romans 5:5 says the love of God has been poured into our new hearts by the Holy Spirit. As we spiritually mature, we grow in the same unconditional love that God has extended to us. When we are confident of the love we have for each other, we can also open our hearts to one another, allowing God’s light to shine through us and bring healing and restoration. As lights of God, we can also shine into the darkness of an unsaved world with a message of forgiveness and hope.
If we are honest, we can all admit that we’ve sinned before God. We can acknowledge that we’re not perfect. It’s a good thing that God has declared us as righteous and seats us in a right position through Christ. He sees us complete in Christ, growing in righteousness. God knows we still deal with an unregenerate soul and body. God knows that we have wrong desires and temptations at work in us. And we can’t overcome these things by ourselves. We need God’s help. In writing to Christians, John tells us that if we sin, He is FAITHFUL and He is JUST to forgive and cleanse us of what is unrighteous. Hallelujah!
Self-sufficiency is contrary to dependent faith. As Christians, if we are not yet mature in our revelation and acceptance of grace and love, we will struggle with shame, guilt, and fear. We’ll work hard to try to earn our position or our favor with God, and then we’ll fall short. Then we’ll compare ourselves with our brothers and sisters, pointing out their failures, for the purpose of feeling better than someone else.
It takes humility to admit our shortcomings and receive God’s love and grace. Without that confidence of God’s love, instead of letting His light shine in, we hide a few things in a dark corner. We let God in, but only so far. Humble faith helps us to let God go to those places we are ashamed of, and allows God’s light to touch it. It takes that same humble, yielded heart to extend grace to others.
Throughout this letter that the Apostle John wrote to circulate among churches, He emphasized love and light. John also wrote the Gospel of John, where he is known as the one “the Lord loved.” We can say the same about ourselves because we are loved by God, unconditionally. Let’s not act as if we are better than anyone else. Instead, let’s share the same love and grace that we have received, so others can know Him and be known by Him, too.
Ezekiel 47-48
We continue to read a description of the temple in the millennium. There are healing waters that flow from the temple. These waters are measured in four increments of 1000 cubits each. The river rises to ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, and so deep that it says it can’t be crossed. This river is also alluded to in Revelation 22:1, Joel 3:18, and Zechariah 14:8.
Ezekiel also writes about boundaries of the land, which resembles the territory in Numbers 34. In chapter 48, we read about the way the land will be allotted among the tribes. Then Ezekiel writes on the gates of the city and mentions the city’s new name, “THE LORD IS THERE.” God has always wanted to be close to His people, living among them. Today, God lives on the inside of us, and our body is called the temple of the Holy Spirit. Let’s remind ourselves who we are and who we have within us. It’s mind-boggling to receive the revelation that GOD lives in us. Nothing is impossible!
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