Intro: Although I drive a six year old vehicle, it still has many features to help me understand the health of my car. When I first start the engine, the dashboard becomes alive with indicator lights. The colors of those lights are varied according to the importance of the sensory component it represents. For example, a white light means a component or feature is actively engaged [e.g. road departure mitigation or LDW]. I am grateful for this lane departure warning sensor and indicator light to keep me centered!
Sometimes if I wander too far left or right in the lane, I feel a tug at the steering wheel to correct my path. This reminds me of the work of the Spirit of God in my life.
In our passage for today, the Apostle John connects God’s command from the Old Testament to love one another with the new practical instructions from Jesus on how to overcome sin or darkness by staying on the righteous path of love (Lev 19:18). Jesus shines his divine light and brings a practical application for this command from God, so his children can stay spiritually healthy and powerful. We are to extend genuine respect to our spiritual brothers and sisters and sacrificially serve one another. When we are actively engaged in divine love—expressed through selfless giving and living—there is no tug from the Spirit on our soul to correct course. We are pleasing to God and we shine the glorious light of his approval.
John teaches our love for fellow believers is essential and must be actively engaged, otherwise, it indicates a warning that we have departed off the righteous road. The world is a selfish system that is under the influence of Satan who uses human desires and passions to steer people off course and away from our love for God and one another. Love is not necessarily easy, yet it is always a believer’s responsibility, as well as a choice and a commitment of our faith. Love is our indicator Light! I am praying we can stay centered on God’s righteous path. However, if the Holy Spirit tugs at our hearts, let’s be quick to correct course! Have a wonderful and blessed weekend. Hope to see you or share with you in worship on Sunday…
1 John 2:7-9, 15-17 NLT A New Commandment
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness.
Do Not Love This World
15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
Prayer: Father, thank you for the understanding you bring to your children about the essential work of love to protect our spiritual course for growth. Take us deeper in your love and position us in your family to be examples of selfless giving and living. If we wander off course, please tug at our souls and help us choose to stay centered on your path of love. In Jesus’ name.