1 John Part 5

Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6

What does that mean? How did Jesus "walk"? What was the essence of his life? Which principles transcended his day to day actions and were a part of everything he did? Like John said in his gospel, the world doesn't have enough books to tell about all the things that Jesus did (John 21:25), but the principles that strike me are grace and truth. You can have truth without grace, but you can not have grace without truth.

We must start with the truth. Jesus personified truth (John 14:6) so he never could get away from it or escape it. He never lost sight of the truth like we do. Truth defines his very being. This is what makes the grace that he walked in have all the greater magnitude. Jesus is the very essence of truth, yet he came to forgive people who were filled with sin and treated them with grace and compassion while never being able to escape the reality and the magnitude of their sin.

How do we imitate this in our own lives?

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. ¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. 1 John 2:9-11

Do you hate your brother? Do you hate other people? I know I do. What does it mean to hate? Do you put yourself first and treat others like they don't matter? I know I do. Do others just get in the way sometimes? Do you only have time for smart people, pretty people, funny people, moral people? We are none of these things to Jesus. We are not smart or moral for sure. Yet he has grace and compassion on us. Do you only have time for people that can provide you some benefit? Then you are not walking as Jesus did. Jesus needs nothing from anyone and we have nothing to offer him.

Selfishness is a constant struggle. Our felt needs are there constantly. And they are up close and intense. I guess this is otherwise referred to as the flesh. Our physical and emotional desires are in our faces surrounding us. Our sinful nature wants to fulfill these desires with no regard to the consequences. Will we walk as Jesus did, looking to the needs of others while grounded in truth, or will we disregard the needs of our brothers and fulfill our selfish sinful desires?

I feel the need to emphasize the need to be grounded in truth. We should not rationalize the sins of others or ourselves. Sin is sin and it is not ok. We need to pray throughout the day as well as set time aside for prayer to stay grounded in the truth. When we recognize our own sin and the sin of others for what it is, it should drive us to compassion because they are helpless just like we are. It should compel us to show the love of Christ to them, not become annoyed and condemn them in our hearts.