Comments on: 1st John 3:18-19

By: Steve Orr

Steve Orr — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:44:57 +0000

Curt and Pierre, thanks so much for your thoughts! Curt, I have never heard it said quite the way you expressed it: “Good works provide tangible evidence to the lost what God’s kingdom is supposed to be like.” You really made me think with that one. I now have a whole new motivation to be a doer of the Word. And thanks for the reminder to wear my “armor.” Pierre, I appreciate your exhortation to “meditate on the qualities of those I’m about to pray for.” I too find that I spend less and less time coming into contact with those who have offended or attacked me. Your reminder is that in being doers of the word we have to include praying for, and interacting with, those we do not like or who have offended us. They are our neighbors just as much as those whose company we enjoy!

By: Pierre Duranleau

Pierre Duranleau — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:32:33 +0000

For me, this has to be the hardest commandment of all, it encompasses all the other commandments. I find that unless I make a conscious decision to love my neighbor, we are just two ships crossing in the night, and if it’s someone that offended me our path has a tendency to cross less often. I find that meditating on the qualities of those I’m about to pray for helps me a great deal. May God grant us to love one enemy today, in prayer and action. Jesus is intimate with those who obey his command. John 15.

By: Curt

Curt — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:35:04 +0000

Terrific verse !!! [1st John 3:18-19]
James 1:22-24 comes to mind, “hearers” vs “doers” of the Word. Believers, provide evidence you are a follower of Christ !! [exhortation]
Footnote:
All believers must understand that good works (which we are called to do) do not contribute to our personal salvation (Christ’s death paid that price). Good works provide tangilble evidence to the lost what God’s kingdom is supposed to be like. And, we are practicing for the heavenly society here in bootcamp. Let’s be diligent recruits not AWOL soldiers or gold bricks who talk a good story. (Fight the good fight! Run a good race! Don’t forget your armour!)