Hi Everyone,
Sharing a devotional with you from 1John 2: 7-11
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
John here is reminding believers what of the that this command to love and not hate is not new to them but one they have heard many times. John describes what hate is in this case and it is to be living in darkness rather than light. To live with hate is to live in darkness as we are called to love one another no matter how difficult someone is to love. It may not be that we will become great friends with them but we do not speak ill of them and continue to pray blessings over them. Hatred sucks the life out of us and makes us unhappy. What is the opposite? Love! To love someone is to bless them and to not cause them to stumble. To encourage one another, carrying each others burdens, walking alongside of one another through tough times.
What kind of person do we want to be? it is not easy because we may not get along with one another. John warns us that when we hate we are still living in darkness. May we live in the light as we love one another, encourage, and support one another. What does it look like for you to live in the light and not in darkness?
Blessings,
Esther