Jd

Jude urges us to "contend for the faith" in the midst of a godless culture. He also speaks boldly to the fact that much of that contention will be within the "gathered community".

Often the most destructive things in a believing community are not the attacks from the outside, but rather, the factions that emerge from within. Jude believed that not all those on the inside are truly on the "inside". These are the ones we should guard most vigilantly against.

Jude's solution was to continue to build ourselves up in faith, to pray that the Holy Spirit will keep us loving God and each other, and to expect the mercy of Jesus to be on our lives.

These are strong words.

3Jn

Happy Thanksgiving. Be careful to follow only what is good. These are wise words from the apostle John.

We all are followers! We don't choose to be followers, we only choose "who and what" we will follow.

Making sure that the leadership in our lives is excellent should be one of our highest priorities.

2jn2

"This is my command: Love one another!" It is not a new command, just a very hard one.

It is this command that matters most. When we drift from love, we are drifting from God.

Don't let life stop you from loving each other. Give yourself to loving others. In this way we fulfill God's desires for us.

1Jn3

If faith is measured in the way that we love others, how great is our faith?

Loving God is expressed in loving others. Loving others is the greatest evidence that we truly love God.

Live in love today.

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1Jn2

Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him.

These are strong words! Clearly John was saying the world and God's desires are in conflict.

Consider these things today. What does it mean for us?

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1Jn1

There is no fellowship with God or others apart from confession!
Being honest about our sin is step one in our relationship with God. Being willing to share our sins with others is step one in our fellowship with one another.
Living in a relationship with one another is living with the reality that we all sin.
Confess your sins. It is a freeing thing to do!

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2Pt3

What kind of people are we to be? Peter knew the Lord's promises were true. He also knew that it would be difficult to wait for His return. And difficult to live for Christ in culture. Yet, his encouragement was that it would be worth it. Eternity will be blessed for those who live in light of Jesus' return.

2Pt2

What are our hearts trained in? These "blasphemes" have their hearts trained in greed.
From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. What will we talk about today?
I pray our hearts are full of the gospel and that we will speak of Christ.

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2Pt1

God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Therefore, Peter encourages each of us to make "every effort" to confirm our salvation and grow in character.

All believers manifest the "same faith" in God. Peter knew how that faith changed his life completely and he expected salvation to change the lives of everyone in the same way. He was not content with anyone simply "calling themselves a christian". He wanted to see growth and effort put into their faith.

Good parents want their children to grow and mature. For them to maximize their abilities and to have an impact on the culture around them. We want our kids to become "productive members of society". Peter wanted the same of spiritual children. For them to be productive and fruitful christians, who were making a difference.

Are we growing in our faith? Are we making a difference with those around us? We should be. We won't be without focus and effort.

1Pt5

"Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Yesterday we were challenged to have an intense love for one another and today the challenge is to be humble. To think of others more highly than we think of ourselves. To serve others rather than to be served.

Pride comes naturally! Humility takes work. God resist the proud, He assists the humble. I don't know about you, but I much prefer God help over God's resistance. 

Humble yourself today.

1Pt4

"Above all maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins."

I doubt anyone would describe the effort I put into loving others as "intense"! Generally, that word is used to describe physical workouts, athletic competition or vain pursuits. When something is intense, it consumes the moment and involves all our energy. Most of the time, intensity is used to describe something in a negative way. 

In fact, I can't remember ever hearing someone associate intensity with the way someone loves others! Can you imagine that? Do you know anyone who could rightly be described as "maintaining intense love for others"? Most of us only love ourselves with that kind of intensity. What would pursing love for others in this way even look like?

Notice Peter's reason for this request…forgiveness. He is wanting believers to maintain right relationships. He recognizes the need for forgiveness in all relationships because of sin. He knows love fuels forgiveness. Without love, forgiveness is next to impossible. With love forgiveness is common place.

Do you struggle to forgive others? Intensify your pursuit of love.

1Pt3

Has anyone ever asked you to share the gospel with them? Would you be ready to share if they did?

Peter said, "Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about he hope you have." I want to live my life in a way that causes others to ask. Sharing the gospel is easy when someone asks you to share it with them. And we all know how much people need to know.

Pray for me this week. I am hoping many in Albania will be asking me to share with them about the hope I have in Christ. Pray others will get to go to heaven because I got to go to Albania.

1Pt2

Submission is a quality that every believer should strive to have as a priority! First to God and then to every authority established by Him.

The believers Peter was addressing were being persecuted and even put to death for their faith! Yet, Peter encourages submission. He says, "Submit to every human authority because of the Lord...Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor." This is so countercultural to us!

Americans rarely submit to good authority, much less authority that is harsh and evil. Try to wrap your mind around this principle. Look how highly God values His ultimate authority. Submission is a beautiful character quality.

Strive for it.

1Pt1

Peter emphatically described life in Christ as being "born again" (v.25). His challenge was to live according to this new reality. He recognized that we lived in ignorance before knowing Christ, but challenges us to now live in obedience to Him. 

The word he uses to describe this new way of living was "holy". By this he means, set apart specifically for God. No longer living to please ourselves but living to pleas Him. Letting our minds and actions reflect a new reality to our lives. Caring more about the eternal dwelling that is coming than the present realities of the day.

Holiness is not being odd! Holiness is living in obedience to Christ. If we do today what God would desire, people would not think us "odd" but rather, exemplary. Make choices today that reflect the reality of belonging to Christ. That is holiness.

Js5

"Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other and you will be healed." 

When is the last time you actually confessed sin to someone else and asked them to pray for you? This should be the pattern of our christian relationships. Confession and prayer should be common place in the church among believers. We know we all sin. We know we all need prayer. Rarely do we confess our sins to each other and rarely do we pray for each other.

I wonder how many of us would say,  "I never have confessed my sin to another christian and asked them to pray for me." I fear it would be to many of us. Healing from sin comes through confession and prayer. If you want to be free from your sins, begin by confessing them to others and asking them to pray for you.

It will be freeing.

Js4

Why is it so easy to criticize others? Mostly, because it's sin! Almost all sin is easy.

James writes, "Don't criticize one another…". Instead, we should work to build each other up. The opposite of critical is encouraging. Are we more encouraging or critical?

Encouragers are people who everyone wants to be be around. Not people who flatter or give false praise, but actually people who recognize things that are going well. Encouragement is the key to caring. Seeing the good is the key to gratitude.

Look to eliminate a critical spirit from your life.

Js3

Bitter envy and selfish ambition are the enemies of unity! Work hard to remove these from your heart and the hearts of those around you.

James is clearly describing how words are used to destroy unity! From teachers to individual conversations, words either build up or destroy unity. Solomon wrote a lot about our words in the book of proverbs. He said, "words have the power of life and death". Let's be the kind of people who use words to bring life!

Bitter envy is a horrible thing! Envy is a desire to have something someone else has. Bitter envy is not only having a desire for something, but actually not wanting the person who has it to have it anymore! People who struggle with bitter envy actually celebrate the failures of others. What a horrible way to be.

Selfish ambition is the inordinate desire to be first, the best or to win. It focuses on exalting ourselves in relationship to others. People who struggle with this sin focus on themselves. They are unable to rejoice with the success of others unless they have had even greater success. Win or lose their happiness is connected to their personal statistics!

These people bring disunity to every environment they are in. They make teams and organizations worse. They are the reason factions and problems happen. Don't be among this group. Work for the success and unity of everyone!

Js2

Do we show preference to rich people over the poor? If so, our hearts are not focused on the ways of God.

Historically the rich and the beautiful are given preferential treatment! These are things that cultures have valued since the beginning of civilization. These are values that continue to destroy, corrupt and ruin our culture.

The royal law is, "Love your neighbor as yourself." When we give preferential treatment to others, we violate this royal law. Everyone needs love, not just the rich and the beautiful. If we choose to love people period, we will begin to reflect the love of Jesus.

Love people as people regardless of their external appearance or financial status.