St. John has a one-track mind. Now normally we say this as a negative thing, meaning that a person is so fixed on one aspect of life that he doesn’t experience some of the other aspects that he should. But if your one-track mind is fixed on God and His commandments, then having a one-track mind is a great blessing.
In this passage, St. John joins the choir of voices that teach us that love, like faith, cannot be in word or tongue only but must be a love that finds expression in deed and in truth. Growing up, we sang one of the new 70s Christian songs that was coming into the churches: “Love is somethin’ ya do.” Apparently, you had to leave the letter ‘g’ off of “something” and had to turn the word “you” into “ya.” I didn’t like the song very much because even as a preteen or teen it struck me as trying to hard to be young and hip. But I had to acknowledge that the basic message was a good one.
Love is something you do. (There – it’s cathartic after all these years to say it the right way!) It’s so easy to speak of Christian love. In fact, I think in some ways the ideal of Christian agape love was secularized in the 60s by the hippies and others. Remember: “All you need is love.” It’s still possible culturally to speak of a kind of love akin to agape love and have people recognize it as a noble goal.
But it is hard to live by agape love because at the heart of it is self-giving. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us” (verse 16). Jesus Christ is the definition of love, not just because God is love but because God does love. Sometimes we think of God as being a static being, perhaps the faceless figure sitting on the throne. If you look carefully at these static pictures of God like I have, you can see under His robes that He’s twiddling His thumbs. I would too if I were Almighty God and I had nothing better to do than to sit around all day!
John rightly points to Jesus’ laying down His life for us as the focal point of His love. At the Cross, we especially see the love of God for us; we see love in action. At the Cross, we see the baby born at Christmas grown into a man, and we see the terrible reason He was born. Thank God that Jesus didn’t think that love was just a second-hand emotion but showed it with His life.
But the love of Jesus can’t stop with Jesus. If we love God, then we will love the brethren, by which John means especially other Christians. “And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (verse 16). Christians are to be little Christs, doing what He did. We are to lay down our lives for one another.
I’m fascinated by Jesus’ life of sacrifice, and not just the moment on the Cross. The entire public ministry of Jesus was a laying down of His life. Constantly, He was teaching and healing others. He went without food or sleep sometimes, that He might serve others. Tired, hungry, pressed on every side by needy people, Jesus was constantly laying down His life for the brethren. In fact, I think it’s one of the ways that He was humanly prepared for the sacrifice of the Cross. He had been preparing for the Cross for three years by daily taking up His Cross and denying Himself for the good of those around Him. And that is the way that we will be prepared when the moment of the Cross comes to us in our lives.
If we continue to think of love simply as an emotion that we feel toward God and others, then we will never fulfill His commandment to love one another as He loved us. Love is not a soft, squishy feeling of niceness inside that melts at the first sign of sacrifice. Love is hard, the hardest substance known in the universe. It is as hard as the wood of the Cross and as hard as spikes being driven into human flesh.
So often we hear words about love, but where are the deeds? At Christmas, we stuff ourselves with the kindly fruits of the earth that God has given us. We eat so much that our problem is not starvation but gluttony. We stuff ourselves with gifts to each other, at least the ones who are close to us, but do we have anything left over to give to the poor?
I find that each day is crammed with opportunities to lay down our lives for other Christians, and non-Christians as well. I find that all throughout the day, unless you’re a hermit, you’re surrounded by people whom God has given you the privilege of loving by serving in His name. Only we don’t see them as opportunities for love because we’re too busy doing our own thing.
Take the example of how we are to lay down our lives every day to help make disciples of Jesus Christ. I find that the work of Christian discipleship is immensely hard and difficult work and one that takes not a village but a Church. It is not the work of pastors or priests only but is our daily bread as Christians, those who have been called the children of God and have been called by the name of the One who first loved us. To make disciples of the people God has put into our lives is a full time pursuit, not a weekend hobby for specialists. Without the love of Jesus that willingly gives up some of its own leisure and ease, how will others become Christians and learn the love of God?
We ought to think twice about calling ourselves Christians because what we’re really saying when we say that we are Christians is, “I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ and I want you to know that I am, knowing that how I live or don’t live in love will teach you about my Christ.” Saying you’re a Christian is signing up for a life of discipleship and love. It is believing enough in Jesus Christ to give up your life to Him by laying it down for others.
This love in action is so powerful that it even affects your prayer life. “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (verse 22). Think about this next time you pray: that those who keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight (that is, those who love) are more likely to receive what they ask for.
How could the degree of God’s love in your life not affect your prayers, that is, your life with Him? I don’t have time to describe it all, but somehow the love of God and our love for our brothers and sisters, faith, deeds, and prayer are all mysteriously related to each other so that what affects one affects the others.
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Prayer: Almighty God who is love, I ask that You would give me Yourself today that I might have Your love. Father, I thank You for Your love that sent Your Son into the world at Christmas and that chose me to be Your child. Jesus, I praise You for Your love that laid down Your life for me, and I pray that You would help me to honor Your holy Name by laying down my life for others as You did for me. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
1. Make a list of possible ways in which, during the normal course of the day, you could practice laying down your life for others. Pick one of these to practice today, and keep the list handy for future reference until it becomes a part of you.
2. Meditate on how Jesus, the Son of God, laid down His life for You. Come to understand His sacrificial love enough that your vision of God inspires you to lay down your life for others.
Resolution: I resolve to look today for opportunities to love others not in word only but also in deed.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Friday, January 02, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
January 2 - I John 3:1-12
“You are a child of God.” That’s what God tells you in 1 John 3:1.
What a wonderful way for God to greet us in the New Year!
Here is the source of St. John’s teaching about how we ought to love one another: it is that God first loved us. We know from this same John that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. But what enraptures John here is that God has loved us so much that He has dared to call us His children.
There is a lot of talk these days about everyone being children of God. In some sense, since we are made in His image, this may be true. But biblically, the true children of God are those He has adopted into His family by their relationship with His Son. John does not seem to think that wicked Cain was a child of God. In fact, the presence of Cain and the clear denunciation of his wickedness seem to have spoiled the party and made it less inclusive for those who revised the lectionary for the 1928 Prayer Book. With the skill of a surgeon, they carefully cut out verse 12 and only verse 12 (but I have successfully restored it by mentioning it here!)
You are a child of God, if you have accepted His love by accepting His Son. But to truly be a child of God, and to remain a child of God, you must act like a child of God. Do you seriously think that God has made you His child (and sent His own Son to the Cross) just so that you could continue living the way you used to and continue sinning?
As God’s children, we are to be made like Him in all the ways in which it is possible for us to be made like Him. Since God is holy and righteous, we too are required to be holy and righteous. Yes, this holiness and righteousness come from the Son alone. Yet God, through John, commands us to purify ourselves. We have a role to play in acting like the children of God and being righteous. The Son of God was manifested (which we are still celebrating during this Christmastide) that He might destroy the works of the devil (verse 9). How can we go on sinning, then, if we are truly His children?
Of course it’s puzzling, and troubling, that John says whoever abides in Him does not sin (verse 6); that whoever sins has not known or seen Him (verse 6); and that whoever has been born of God does not sin and cannot sin because he has been born of God (verse 9). Knowing my own sins, in spite of loving God, where does this leave me? Obviously, John cannot be talking about us being without actual sins in this life, for “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8.) We also know that it is possible to love God and still sin, for all of you are presumably in that condition.
While John may not mean that we must be entirely without any actual sin, at a minimum he is speaking of the necessity of the child of God to be like God and to be holy. John is not teaching that we can be sinless in this life, but he is teaching that this is to be our goal. You are a child of God!
You are a child of God, and one of the sure signs of the child of God is that he wants to be like his heavenly Father. Is it your goal to be without sin? Truly? Is it your intention this New Year to purify yourself? Don’t you know that you are to be made like your heavenly Father and that this is why you have died to yourself and are alive in Jesus Christ?
I find this to be the highest motivation to want to purify myself this New Year: that God has chosen to call me His child. Children are naturally proud of their parents. For this reason, boys used to say, “My Dad can lick your Dad!” Naturally, sons want to be like their fathers. We all know, however, that this natural desire to be like an earthly father fades, sometimes because of the imperfection of us earthly fathers. How much more should the children of God desire to be like their perfect heavenly Father?
God has chosen me as His son. Me, who did nothing to deserve it. Me, who still sins against this loving Father. Me!
Here is my other motivation for wanting to be like God: that one day I shall be made like Him. One day, when this is all over and we are safely in heaven, we shall be revealed for what God has really made us: His children. One day, I shall be revealed as this most glorious creature that reflects the glory of God. One day, I will be far brighter than the angels. One day, I will be perfect as He is perfect. One day, I will be so closely united to Him that all of these things will be true. Since this is what it means to be a child of God, this is what I should be becoming even now.
The closer I am to God, the more I want to be like Him. The farther away I am from Him, the better the things of the world look. This is why we are so easily seduced by the world, because we are so close to it. Sometimes men and women fall into adultery not because of the intrinsic beauty of the person with whom they are sinning but only because they have allowed their lives to become closer to that person than to their own spouses.
The best way to understand what we shall one day be and to be made like God in this life is to see Him as He is (verse 2). If only we saw God for who He really is, then I don’t think we’d ever turn away from Him. But we get only partial glimpses here. We see Him through a dusty, cracked, distorted lens. Even so, at times His glory is mesmerizing. But often only for a moment. And then some other bright shiny toy comes along, and off we go.
But if we would seek to see God the best we could in this life, to dedicate ourselves to the vision of God, I think we’d stand a better chance of being more like Him. At times, we catch a vision of God in our daily meditations, if we are faithful and persistent and give Him enough time and attention. But the best way of all to catch a vision of God that will make us more truly His children is to gaze at Him in corporate worship. It is here that we are lifted up into the heavens with all of the angels and archangels and all of the heavenly host and cry, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are full of thy glory: glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High!”
It is seeing God as He is that will help make us who we are to be.
In worship, we see a vision of who God is and who we are to be. And therefore, our worship of God ought to lead to our discipleship as His children.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your amazing love to me in calling me to be Your child. What manner of love of this that is beyond my comprehension?! Help me to see Your face today that I might desire You and in desiring You be made like You. By the holiness and righteousness of Your Son may I purify myself and walk in love and holiness. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
Take time to truly seek the face of God today. It might be by meditating on Him, particularly through Scripture; by spending more time in prayer today; by singing hymns to Him; by asking and receiving forgiveness; or by any other practice that will help you see Him more clearly today.
Resolution: I resolve to seek God’s face today.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
What a wonderful way for God to greet us in the New Year!
Here is the source of St. John’s teaching about how we ought to love one another: it is that God first loved us. We know from this same John that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. But what enraptures John here is that God has loved us so much that He has dared to call us His children.
There is a lot of talk these days about everyone being children of God. In some sense, since we are made in His image, this may be true. But biblically, the true children of God are those He has adopted into His family by their relationship with His Son. John does not seem to think that wicked Cain was a child of God. In fact, the presence of Cain and the clear denunciation of his wickedness seem to have spoiled the party and made it less inclusive for those who revised the lectionary for the 1928 Prayer Book. With the skill of a surgeon, they carefully cut out verse 12 and only verse 12 (but I have successfully restored it by mentioning it here!)
You are a child of God, if you have accepted His love by accepting His Son. But to truly be a child of God, and to remain a child of God, you must act like a child of God. Do you seriously think that God has made you His child (and sent His own Son to the Cross) just so that you could continue living the way you used to and continue sinning?
As God’s children, we are to be made like Him in all the ways in which it is possible for us to be made like Him. Since God is holy and righteous, we too are required to be holy and righteous. Yes, this holiness and righteousness come from the Son alone. Yet God, through John, commands us to purify ourselves. We have a role to play in acting like the children of God and being righteous. The Son of God was manifested (which we are still celebrating during this Christmastide) that He might destroy the works of the devil (verse 9). How can we go on sinning, then, if we are truly His children?
Of course it’s puzzling, and troubling, that John says whoever abides in Him does not sin (verse 6); that whoever sins has not known or seen Him (verse 6); and that whoever has been born of God does not sin and cannot sin because he has been born of God (verse 9). Knowing my own sins, in spite of loving God, where does this leave me? Obviously, John cannot be talking about us being without actual sins in this life, for “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8.) We also know that it is possible to love God and still sin, for all of you are presumably in that condition.
While John may not mean that we must be entirely without any actual sin, at a minimum he is speaking of the necessity of the child of God to be like God and to be holy. John is not teaching that we can be sinless in this life, but he is teaching that this is to be our goal. You are a child of God!
You are a child of God, and one of the sure signs of the child of God is that he wants to be like his heavenly Father. Is it your goal to be without sin? Truly? Is it your intention this New Year to purify yourself? Don’t you know that you are to be made like your heavenly Father and that this is why you have died to yourself and are alive in Jesus Christ?
I find this to be the highest motivation to want to purify myself this New Year: that God has chosen to call me His child. Children are naturally proud of their parents. For this reason, boys used to say, “My Dad can lick your Dad!” Naturally, sons want to be like their fathers. We all know, however, that this natural desire to be like an earthly father fades, sometimes because of the imperfection of us earthly fathers. How much more should the children of God desire to be like their perfect heavenly Father?
God has chosen me as His son. Me, who did nothing to deserve it. Me, who still sins against this loving Father. Me!
Here is my other motivation for wanting to be like God: that one day I shall be made like Him. One day, when this is all over and we are safely in heaven, we shall be revealed for what God has really made us: His children. One day, I shall be revealed as this most glorious creature that reflects the glory of God. One day, I will be far brighter than the angels. One day, I will be perfect as He is perfect. One day, I will be so closely united to Him that all of these things will be true. Since this is what it means to be a child of God, this is what I should be becoming even now.
The closer I am to God, the more I want to be like Him. The farther away I am from Him, the better the things of the world look. This is why we are so easily seduced by the world, because we are so close to it. Sometimes men and women fall into adultery not because of the intrinsic beauty of the person with whom they are sinning but only because they have allowed their lives to become closer to that person than to their own spouses.
The best way to understand what we shall one day be and to be made like God in this life is to see Him as He is (verse 2). If only we saw God for who He really is, then I don’t think we’d ever turn away from Him. But we get only partial glimpses here. We see Him through a dusty, cracked, distorted lens. Even so, at times His glory is mesmerizing. But often only for a moment. And then some other bright shiny toy comes along, and off we go.
But if we would seek to see God the best we could in this life, to dedicate ourselves to the vision of God, I think we’d stand a better chance of being more like Him. At times, we catch a vision of God in our daily meditations, if we are faithful and persistent and give Him enough time and attention. But the best way of all to catch a vision of God that will make us more truly His children is to gaze at Him in corporate worship. It is here that we are lifted up into the heavens with all of the angels and archangels and all of the heavenly host and cry, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are full of thy glory: glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High!”
It is seeing God as He is that will help make us who we are to be.
In worship, we see a vision of who God is and who we are to be. And therefore, our worship of God ought to lead to our discipleship as His children.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your amazing love to me in calling me to be Your child. What manner of love of this that is beyond my comprehension?! Help me to see Your face today that I might desire You and in desiring You be made like You. By the holiness and righteousness of Your Son may I purify myself and walk in love and holiness. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
Take time to truly seek the face of God today. It might be by meditating on Him, particularly through Scripture; by spending more time in prayer today; by singing hymns to Him; by asking and receiving forgiveness; or by any other practice that will help you see Him more clearly today.
Resolution: I resolve to seek God’s face today.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The Circumcision of Christ - January 1 - Ephesians 2:11-22
Happy New Year!
Though the lesson from today is taken from Ephesians 2:11-22, on the Circumcision of Christ, we should not forget about one, unobtrusive verse that most of us skip over each year. It’s tucked away right after the justly famous Christmas passage in St. Luke’s Gospel. But after the angels have sung and announced, after the shepherds had watched their flock by night, had come to the Lamb of God, and had gone home, Jesus was circumcised.
Luke 2:21: “And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.”
Why would St. Luke bother to record this? Why should it concern us? And why would the Church see fit to set aside one day a year to commemorate one verse in the Bible? There is good reason, but I suppose that if an entire book can be written about the obscure Prayer of Jabez, an obscure Old Testament figure, then I suppose we can dwell a little on an important event in the life of the Christ Himself.
To begin with, consider what care God the Father took in bringing the Son to us. He not only made Him like one of us but also had Him undergo the same kind of life that any first century Jew might. The point is that He was made like us in all things that He might redeem all things in us. Jesus, the Righteous One, had to be circumcised so that He could perfectly keep the Law on our behalf. And I find that meaningful.
It was at His circumcision that Jesus was given His name. Jesus had to grow into the name that He was given and into His earthly ministry, one day at a time. This astounds me, because it reminds me of how truly human Jesus was and how things didn’t just happen automatically for Him.
Because Jesus did in fact grow up to be the Christ and actually did redeem us, the sovereignty of God is shown. Despite Herod’s attempts to kill Him, and despite all other possible obstacles, God the Father preserved the Son. He knew exactly what He needed to do, and He made it happen. So sure was God of His promises and His will that He even gave Jesus His name before He was conceived in the womb. In fact, He had been prophesied about hundreds of years before His birth.
And what a name! Jesus. The Lord Shall Save!
And He did.
But the meaning of Christ’s circumcision goes beyond this. Why would God institute such a barbaric ritual in the first place as a sign of the covenant? The symbolism of circumcision is rich, and I can’t do justice to it here, but it represents the blood sacrifice and covenant that God has made with man. It represents the cutting away of sinful things and the removal of the things of the flesh that obscures life, so that the clean flesh might live and give life.
Circumcision is, therefore, a miniature picture of the work of Jesus Christ. How fitting that He should undergo it for us.
At one time, you and I were, to put it crassly, the foreskin. We were cut off from God and fit only to be thrown away. Because of our sinfulness, God had to surgically remove us from His holy presence. By the blood of Christ, pictured in miniature in His circumcision, we were brought near to Him from whom we are worthy only to be circumcised or cut off.
By His circumcision, Jesus reminds us that for our sake He bore all of our impurities, as well as the bloody price for our sins. In His flesh (Ephesians 2:15), He abolished the enmity, the Law of commandments, and all that separated us from God and each other.
By this simple act of keeping the Law, by this simple act of keeping God’s covenant with man, Jesus Christ shows us once again that He is the New Covenant. He is the only means to God. Only through Him can we love and obey the Father.
Why eight days? Of course I could give the easy answer and say because the Law required it. But why eight days to begin with? The eighth day is also the first day, and by Jesus’ circumcision on the eighth day, God is telling us that He is beginning His New Creation and His New Covenant through this eight-day old baby. In a way, the Second Adam was born on the first day but reborn on the eighth to show us that through Him we must also enter the second birth.
And all this from an eight-day old infant!
It’s humbling to me that God can use even an eight-day old to do His holy will. By it, I know as well not only the incredible power of God but also the loving character of a God who would stoop and use a human infant to glorify Him.
It reminds me that He can even use a 48-year old man as well!
Maybe this theme of God’s bringing new life and birth through a New Covenant is why we celebrate the Circumcision of Christ on New Year’s Day.
As we continue to contemplate the new life God has given us in His Son, who was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth, how appropriate for us to consider how God wants us to live the New Year with Him.
Prayer: Almighty God, who made Your blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey Your blessed will; through the same, Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. In this New Year, what sins do you need be have removed from you? Confess each and receive forgiveness through the One who is the true Circumcision.
2. Meditate on the care with which God has brought salvation into your life.
3. Meditate on 3 practical steps you can take to more fully enter into the new life in Christ this year. It will be useful to consider some of the Resolutions you have made previously as you’ve read the Scriptures through Daily Bread.
Resolution: I resolve to meditate on the new life that God has given me and how I should respond anew this new year.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Though the lesson from today is taken from Ephesians 2:11-22, on the Circumcision of Christ, we should not forget about one, unobtrusive verse that most of us skip over each year. It’s tucked away right after the justly famous Christmas passage in St. Luke’s Gospel. But after the angels have sung and announced, after the shepherds had watched their flock by night, had come to the Lamb of God, and had gone home, Jesus was circumcised.
Luke 2:21: “And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.”
Why would St. Luke bother to record this? Why should it concern us? And why would the Church see fit to set aside one day a year to commemorate one verse in the Bible? There is good reason, but I suppose that if an entire book can be written about the obscure Prayer of Jabez, an obscure Old Testament figure, then I suppose we can dwell a little on an important event in the life of the Christ Himself.
To begin with, consider what care God the Father took in bringing the Son to us. He not only made Him like one of us but also had Him undergo the same kind of life that any first century Jew might. The point is that He was made like us in all things that He might redeem all things in us. Jesus, the Righteous One, had to be circumcised so that He could perfectly keep the Law on our behalf. And I find that meaningful.
It was at His circumcision that Jesus was given His name. Jesus had to grow into the name that He was given and into His earthly ministry, one day at a time. This astounds me, because it reminds me of how truly human Jesus was and how things didn’t just happen automatically for Him.
Because Jesus did in fact grow up to be the Christ and actually did redeem us, the sovereignty of God is shown. Despite Herod’s attempts to kill Him, and despite all other possible obstacles, God the Father preserved the Son. He knew exactly what He needed to do, and He made it happen. So sure was God of His promises and His will that He even gave Jesus His name before He was conceived in the womb. In fact, He had been prophesied about hundreds of years before His birth.
And what a name! Jesus. The Lord Shall Save!
And He did.
But the meaning of Christ’s circumcision goes beyond this. Why would God institute such a barbaric ritual in the first place as a sign of the covenant? The symbolism of circumcision is rich, and I can’t do justice to it here, but it represents the blood sacrifice and covenant that God has made with man. It represents the cutting away of sinful things and the removal of the things of the flesh that obscures life, so that the clean flesh might live and give life.
Circumcision is, therefore, a miniature picture of the work of Jesus Christ. How fitting that He should undergo it for us.
At one time, you and I were, to put it crassly, the foreskin. We were cut off from God and fit only to be thrown away. Because of our sinfulness, God had to surgically remove us from His holy presence. By the blood of Christ, pictured in miniature in His circumcision, we were brought near to Him from whom we are worthy only to be circumcised or cut off.
By His circumcision, Jesus reminds us that for our sake He bore all of our impurities, as well as the bloody price for our sins. In His flesh (Ephesians 2:15), He abolished the enmity, the Law of commandments, and all that separated us from God and each other.
By this simple act of keeping the Law, by this simple act of keeping God’s covenant with man, Jesus Christ shows us once again that He is the New Covenant. He is the only means to God. Only through Him can we love and obey the Father.
Why eight days? Of course I could give the easy answer and say because the Law required it. But why eight days to begin with? The eighth day is also the first day, and by Jesus’ circumcision on the eighth day, God is telling us that He is beginning His New Creation and His New Covenant through this eight-day old baby. In a way, the Second Adam was born on the first day but reborn on the eighth to show us that through Him we must also enter the second birth.
And all this from an eight-day old infant!
It’s humbling to me that God can use even an eight-day old to do His holy will. By it, I know as well not only the incredible power of God but also the loving character of a God who would stoop and use a human infant to glorify Him.
It reminds me that He can even use a 48-year old man as well!
Maybe this theme of God’s bringing new life and birth through a New Covenant is why we celebrate the Circumcision of Christ on New Year’s Day.
As we continue to contemplate the new life God has given us in His Son, who was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth, how appropriate for us to consider how God wants us to live the New Year with Him.
Prayer: Almighty God, who made Your blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey Your blessed will; through the same, Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. In this New Year, what sins do you need be have removed from you? Confess each and receive forgiveness through the One who is the true Circumcision.
2. Meditate on the care with which God has brought salvation into your life.
3. Meditate on 3 practical steps you can take to more fully enter into the new life in Christ this year. It will be useful to consider some of the Resolutions you have made previously as you’ve read the Scriptures through Daily Bread.
Resolution: I resolve to meditate on the new life that God has given me and how I should respond anew this new year.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
December 31 - 1 John 2:18-29
St. John’s message this morning is a timely one, coming as it does at the end of another civil year. December 31 is a time to contemplate the sorrows and joys of the previous year, to anticipate with hope the new year, to examine ourselves for what we did wrong last year, and to resolve to be more faithful in the new year.
And so John’s theme of abiding in Christ is a most timely one. John is concerned that the little children who God has entrusted to Him would not fall away but would abide in Jesus Christ. He knows that some who love the world or the things of the world are likely to be tempted away. He knows as well that there are false teachers or antichrists roaming the earth, willing to lead away any sheep who is willing to stray from its Master.
What is the key to abiding in Christ? How can we protect ourselves and our little ones from antichrists? The key lies in understanding the nature of “Christ.” Sometimes we forget and think that “Christ” was Jesus’ surname, that he was Jesus Christ in the same way I am Charles Erlandson. But “Christ” is His title, and it means “Anointed One.” Jesus is the Anointed One, the One anointed by God to redeem the world. At His Baptism, Jesus Christ was anointed by John and the Holy Spirit to become the Messiah or Christ.
At His Baptism, Jesus the Christ was given all three anointed offices of the Old Testament, for in His Baptism He was anointed prophet, priest, and king. He is the Prophet, the one who will completely speak the Word of the Lord because He is the Word of the Lord and the complete revelation of the Father. He is the High Priest who offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice in Himself, the perfect Temple. And He is the King of kings who reigns at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus is the Anointed One, and He is our protection from antichrists. These antichrists I take to mean anything that sets itself up against the true Christ. They include in their numbers all false teachers but I believe should also include the things of the world that tempt us away from the Christ. There is a clear opposition here. One the one side you have the Christ, the Anointed One, and on the other side you have all antichrists who set themselves up against God’s Anointed one and His rule.
The secret, therefore to withstanding the temptations of the antichrists in our lives is to abide in the true Christ. By abiding in Christ we are made Christians, little Christs, anointed ones. To attempt to fight the antichrists on our own power is, in fact, to begin to act like an antichrist. The whole premise of being an antichrist is autonomy or “self rule” apart from the Christ and His rule in our lives. Therefore, the only way to defeat the antichrists is to abide or continue in the true Christ.
But how can we do this? First, we should remember that as Christians we too are anointed ones, not on our own merits but as we abide in Christ, the true Anointed One. There are no anointed ones outside of union with Christ: only antichrists pretending to be Christ. At your baptism, you too were anointed because you were baptized into Jesus Christ and were brought into a covenantal relationship with the true Christ. Through baptism you have an anointing so that Christ abides in you and you in Him.
But baptism is not sufficient, and here is where the importance of time comes in, here at the end of another year. In baptism you were anointed with the Anointed One. But baptism by itself cannot help you to abide in the Anointed One. To abide in the Anointed One, which is to abide in your own anointing, you must abide in the things which you have learned from the beginning (verse 24).
There are two main ways that Christians abide in their anointing. First, since baptism is your anointing, you should abide in this sacramental anointing by abiding in Christ in His Supper as often as you can. “The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.” By feeding off Christ, we Christians abide in Him and He in us.
But there is another way, and that is the faithful hearing of the Word. “If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (verse 24). The reason I have called these meditations Daily Bread is because it is through the Word that the Father gives us our daily bread, the food we need to abide in Him. So closely is the Christ related to the Bible that they are both called the Word of God. The bread and wine are just bread and wine: but God has chosen to use them to bring His Son to us. The ink and paper are just ink and paper, the oral words we hear are just compressions of air molecules: but God has chosen to use them to bring His Son to us.
John speaks of an anointing in us that is abiding. It is not a one-time, static action but is an active, alive, daily living in the Christ.
If you want to abide in Christ and have Him abide in you; if you want to avoid the temptations of the antichrists who are still in the world and are even in the church – then seek Him every day. This abiding in Christ is not an On/Off switch so that you are either abiding or not. If this were so, then it would be easier to see when we have stopped abiding in Him. Instead, we abide in Him the way the branches abide in a vine. There is to be such an organic union of our lives that we are constantly feeding on Him and living in Him.
To abide in the Anointed One, to be anointed ones, we must truly abide or live in Him every day. We must use every means He has given us to consciously turn to Him every day and every hour.
And, since we are beginning a new year, it is appropriate to spend some extra time today vowing to turn to Him this year. During the course of a year and during the course of a lifetime, it is easy to forget the things we were taught at the beginning. But now is the time to return to and abide in the things we have heard from the beginning. And what we have heard is Jesus the Christ.
Prayer: Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One of God, I praise You because You always abide in the Father and the Father in You. Thank You for sharing Your eternal life with me by making me your anointed one. By the anointing of Your Holy Spirit please help me to abide in You each day. Especially at the beginning of this new year, help me to abide in the things which I have heard from the beginning. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
1. Write down 3 practical steps you will take this year to abide more fully in Christ. Treat these as your New Year’s resolutions.
2. Review the various resolutions you have made this year, in your meditating on Scripture through Daily Bread. What things has God been most impressing you with this year? Keep a permanent list of these that you may continue to listen to God in this New Year.
Resolution: I resolve to more faithfully abide in Christ this year. I further resolve to write down 3 practical things I will do to more faithfully abide in Him.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
And so John’s theme of abiding in Christ is a most timely one. John is concerned that the little children who God has entrusted to Him would not fall away but would abide in Jesus Christ. He knows that some who love the world or the things of the world are likely to be tempted away. He knows as well that there are false teachers or antichrists roaming the earth, willing to lead away any sheep who is willing to stray from its Master.
What is the key to abiding in Christ? How can we protect ourselves and our little ones from antichrists? The key lies in understanding the nature of “Christ.” Sometimes we forget and think that “Christ” was Jesus’ surname, that he was Jesus Christ in the same way I am Charles Erlandson. But “Christ” is His title, and it means “Anointed One.” Jesus is the Anointed One, the One anointed by God to redeem the world. At His Baptism, Jesus Christ was anointed by John and the Holy Spirit to become the Messiah or Christ.
At His Baptism, Jesus the Christ was given all three anointed offices of the Old Testament, for in His Baptism He was anointed prophet, priest, and king. He is the Prophet, the one who will completely speak the Word of the Lord because He is the Word of the Lord and the complete revelation of the Father. He is the High Priest who offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice in Himself, the perfect Temple. And He is the King of kings who reigns at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus is the Anointed One, and He is our protection from antichrists. These antichrists I take to mean anything that sets itself up against the true Christ. They include in their numbers all false teachers but I believe should also include the things of the world that tempt us away from the Christ. There is a clear opposition here. One the one side you have the Christ, the Anointed One, and on the other side you have all antichrists who set themselves up against God’s Anointed one and His rule.
The secret, therefore to withstanding the temptations of the antichrists in our lives is to abide in the true Christ. By abiding in Christ we are made Christians, little Christs, anointed ones. To attempt to fight the antichrists on our own power is, in fact, to begin to act like an antichrist. The whole premise of being an antichrist is autonomy or “self rule” apart from the Christ and His rule in our lives. Therefore, the only way to defeat the antichrists is to abide or continue in the true Christ.
But how can we do this? First, we should remember that as Christians we too are anointed ones, not on our own merits but as we abide in Christ, the true Anointed One. There are no anointed ones outside of union with Christ: only antichrists pretending to be Christ. At your baptism, you too were anointed because you were baptized into Jesus Christ and were brought into a covenantal relationship with the true Christ. Through baptism you have an anointing so that Christ abides in you and you in Him.
But baptism is not sufficient, and here is where the importance of time comes in, here at the end of another year. In baptism you were anointed with the Anointed One. But baptism by itself cannot help you to abide in the Anointed One. To abide in the Anointed One, which is to abide in your own anointing, you must abide in the things which you have learned from the beginning (verse 24).
There are two main ways that Christians abide in their anointing. First, since baptism is your anointing, you should abide in this sacramental anointing by abiding in Christ in His Supper as often as you can. “The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life.” By feeding off Christ, we Christians abide in Him and He in us.
But there is another way, and that is the faithful hearing of the Word. “If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (verse 24). The reason I have called these meditations Daily Bread is because it is through the Word that the Father gives us our daily bread, the food we need to abide in Him. So closely is the Christ related to the Bible that they are both called the Word of God. The bread and wine are just bread and wine: but God has chosen to use them to bring His Son to us. The ink and paper are just ink and paper, the oral words we hear are just compressions of air molecules: but God has chosen to use them to bring His Son to us.
John speaks of an anointing in us that is abiding. It is not a one-time, static action but is an active, alive, daily living in the Christ.
If you want to abide in Christ and have Him abide in you; if you want to avoid the temptations of the antichrists who are still in the world and are even in the church – then seek Him every day. This abiding in Christ is not an On/Off switch so that you are either abiding or not. If this were so, then it would be easier to see when we have stopped abiding in Him. Instead, we abide in Him the way the branches abide in a vine. There is to be such an organic union of our lives that we are constantly feeding on Him and living in Him.
To abide in the Anointed One, to be anointed ones, we must truly abide or live in Him every day. We must use every means He has given us to consciously turn to Him every day and every hour.
And, since we are beginning a new year, it is appropriate to spend some extra time today vowing to turn to Him this year. During the course of a year and during the course of a lifetime, it is easy to forget the things we were taught at the beginning. But now is the time to return to and abide in the things we have heard from the beginning. And what we have heard is Jesus the Christ.
Prayer: Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One of God, I praise You because You always abide in the Father and the Father in You. Thank You for sharing Your eternal life with me by making me your anointed one. By the anointing of Your Holy Spirit please help me to abide in You each day. Especially at the beginning of this new year, help me to abide in the things which I have heard from the beginning. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
1. Write down 3 practical steps you will take this year to abide more fully in Christ. Treat these as your New Year’s resolutions.
2. Review the various resolutions you have made this year, in your meditating on Scripture through Daily Bread. What things has God been most impressing you with this year? Keep a permanent list of these that you may continue to listen to God in this New Year.
Resolution: I resolve to more faithfully abide in Christ this year. I further resolve to write down 3 practical things I will do to more faithfully abide in Him.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Monday, December 29, 2008
December 30 - I John 2:1-17
John says so much in such a little space, but his main points seem to be two: Jesus Christ is the propitiation of sins for those who turn to Him, and if anyone knows God and loves Him, he will keep His commandments.
Both seem to be an amplification of John’s gospel from Chapter 1. They are another way of saying that we are to walk in the light and have fellowship with the Father.
John offers a two-fold antidote for the sin that so easily traps us and leads us away from God. First, we should obey God’s commandments, for if we do we will not sin. Second, if we do sin, we should plead for forgiveness in the name of Christ, for He is the propitiation for our sins.
It’s not as if we’re in a tag-team wrestling match, on the same side as Jesus. It’s not as if we begin the match and wrestle the world, the flesh, and the Devil and only when we are in danger of getting pinned that we reach out and slap Jesus’ hand so that He can take over. No, it is the righteousness of Jesus that saves us from the beginning. It is only through His perfect righteousness and the grace He gives through His perfect sacrifice that we are able to keep His commandments in the first place.
We have a very wrong idea about love in our culture. If you mention “love” to most people, the first thought they are likely to have is one about erotic or romantic love. But John, the apostle of love, has a different view. For him, love is obedience to God: “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.”
The test of love and the test of our walking with God is our obedience to Him. “He who says he abides in Him ought Himself also to walk just as He walked.” There are so many Christians who sing about being in love with Jesus. They close their eyes tightly and wave their hands and feel good inside and just love Jesus. For them, this is how they know they have worshiped Him and that they love Him, as what He really said was, “If you love me, you will show intense emotion at a particular moment.”
But the true measure of love is our obedience to God. The true measure is if we walk as He walked, giving up self in love and service to others and perfectly keeping the commandments of the Father. Make no mistake, there is great joy, too, in walking as He walked, but what counts is the obedience of our heart.
Love may, in fact, take the form of an ecstatic joy in the presence of the Lord. But John says that the truest measure is our obedience to God. We shouldn’t measure our love primarily by our emotional states but by how we actually live. It is no good “loving” God on Sunday morning worship and then loving the world the rest of the week.
John’s words are a stark challenge to American Christianity: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” John doesn’t mean loving the world as in loving the good things God created: we’re supposed to do that. But John means loving the things of the fallen world, the things that proceed from love of self, from pride, from lust, from laziness, and from greed.
The real test of love is how well we walk with Jesus in obedience, in giving up our things in love to God and to others. True love has such a fierce attachment to God, and yes it is partially emotional, that it will constantly be found giving up itself and its things and constantly serving others.
Love may take the form of an ecstatic, scrunched up face. But more likely it will take the form of the agony of the Cross. The joy of love comes not from some mystical feeling that the right crowd and the right kind of music and lighting can muster up but from truly walking in the light, which means obedience, which often is sacrificial and hurts. But when done with and through the Son, it is pure joy.
In our desire to love God by obeying Him, we will often fail. We will continue to sin, in spite of our love. When we do, the way back is the way we began: by throwing ourselves on the mercy of God, confessing our sins, turning from them, and going back to walking in His ways. If would be truly frightening to think that my abiding in God was only up to me. One sin would then do me in, and I’d have no way back.
But the amazing thing is that no matter how imperfect I am in loving God and walking in His light, Jesus is always perfect in His obedience to the Father. Whether obeying or repenting from disobedience, loving God means turning to the Son for all things.
So then, love God by keeping His commandments, through the righteousness and love and power of the Son. And when you sin, ask the same Son for forgiveness, for He is the propitiation for your sins.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for being my Advocate with the Father. Thank You for being my righteousness when I had none, and thank You for taking away not only my sins but also the sins of the whole world. Help me to love You more by obeying You more completely. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. Examine yourself by slowly meditating on the Ten Commandments. Remember that to be angry is to murder, to lust is to commit adultery, and that stealing from God does not necessarily mean robbing a 7-11 store.
2. Meditate on St. John’s words to “little children,” “fathers,” and “young men.” As you meditate on his comfortable words, receive the forgiveness and encouragement of God found in them.
Resolution: I resolve to examine how well I have been loving God by obeying Him. If I know of any unconfessed sins, I will confess them. As I examine myself, if I hear the Lord calling me to understand more deeply my attachment to the world, I will listen.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Both seem to be an amplification of John’s gospel from Chapter 1. They are another way of saying that we are to walk in the light and have fellowship with the Father.
John offers a two-fold antidote for the sin that so easily traps us and leads us away from God. First, we should obey God’s commandments, for if we do we will not sin. Second, if we do sin, we should plead for forgiveness in the name of Christ, for He is the propitiation for our sins.
It’s not as if we’re in a tag-team wrestling match, on the same side as Jesus. It’s not as if we begin the match and wrestle the world, the flesh, and the Devil and only when we are in danger of getting pinned that we reach out and slap Jesus’ hand so that He can take over. No, it is the righteousness of Jesus that saves us from the beginning. It is only through His perfect righteousness and the grace He gives through His perfect sacrifice that we are able to keep His commandments in the first place.
We have a very wrong idea about love in our culture. If you mention “love” to most people, the first thought they are likely to have is one about erotic or romantic love. But John, the apostle of love, has a different view. For him, love is obedience to God: “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.”
The test of love and the test of our walking with God is our obedience to Him. “He who says he abides in Him ought Himself also to walk just as He walked.” There are so many Christians who sing about being in love with Jesus. They close their eyes tightly and wave their hands and feel good inside and just love Jesus. For them, this is how they know they have worshiped Him and that they love Him, as what He really said was, “If you love me, you will show intense emotion at a particular moment.”
But the true measure of love is our obedience to God. The true measure is if we walk as He walked, giving up self in love and service to others and perfectly keeping the commandments of the Father. Make no mistake, there is great joy, too, in walking as He walked, but what counts is the obedience of our heart.
Love may, in fact, take the form of an ecstatic joy in the presence of the Lord. But John says that the truest measure is our obedience to God. We shouldn’t measure our love primarily by our emotional states but by how we actually live. It is no good “loving” God on Sunday morning worship and then loving the world the rest of the week.
John’s words are a stark challenge to American Christianity: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” John doesn’t mean loving the world as in loving the good things God created: we’re supposed to do that. But John means loving the things of the fallen world, the things that proceed from love of self, from pride, from lust, from laziness, and from greed.
The real test of love is how well we walk with Jesus in obedience, in giving up our things in love to God and to others. True love has such a fierce attachment to God, and yes it is partially emotional, that it will constantly be found giving up itself and its things and constantly serving others.
Love may take the form of an ecstatic, scrunched up face. But more likely it will take the form of the agony of the Cross. The joy of love comes not from some mystical feeling that the right crowd and the right kind of music and lighting can muster up but from truly walking in the light, which means obedience, which often is sacrificial and hurts. But when done with and through the Son, it is pure joy.
In our desire to love God by obeying Him, we will often fail. We will continue to sin, in spite of our love. When we do, the way back is the way we began: by throwing ourselves on the mercy of God, confessing our sins, turning from them, and going back to walking in His ways. If would be truly frightening to think that my abiding in God was only up to me. One sin would then do me in, and I’d have no way back.
But the amazing thing is that no matter how imperfect I am in loving God and walking in His light, Jesus is always perfect in His obedience to the Father. Whether obeying or repenting from disobedience, loving God means turning to the Son for all things.
So then, love God by keeping His commandments, through the righteousness and love and power of the Son. And when you sin, ask the same Son for forgiveness, for He is the propitiation for your sins.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for being my Advocate with the Father. Thank You for being my righteousness when I had none, and thank You for taking away not only my sins but also the sins of the whole world. Help me to love You more by obeying You more completely. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. Examine yourself by slowly meditating on the Ten Commandments. Remember that to be angry is to murder, to lust is to commit adultery, and that stealing from God does not necessarily mean robbing a 7-11 store.
2. Meditate on St. John’s words to “little children,” “fathers,” and “young men.” As you meditate on his comfortable words, receive the forgiveness and encouragement of God found in them.
Resolution: I resolve to examine how well I have been loving God by obeying Him. If I know of any unconfessed sins, I will confess them. As I examine myself, if I hear the Lord calling me to understand more deeply my attachment to the world, I will listen.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Sunday, December 28, 2008
December 29 - 1 John 1
1 John 1 could be called the Gospel of St. John because in it is contained the essence of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The good news Great News is that God has made it possible for man to have eternal life with the Father. Before, this was not the case, because we walked in darkness and were children of darkness, separated from God by our sins.
But at Christmas, God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to the world as the first and best Christmas present. St. John was a witness to that Son, the Word of life which was from the beginning, and his eyes saw Him and his hands touched Him. St. John the Evangelist, chosen by God to be His holy witness and apostle, did not fail to proclaim what he had seen, heard, and touched, and he writes to us that we too may believe.
St. John, the apostle of love, the disciple whom Jesus loved, demonstrates his love (which is the love of God) by sharing with us the Word of life that had first been shared with him. He has such love for those who are not in the light and have not seen the Word of life that he wants to share the Word with them. Out of the love which he learned from the Master, John wants to share the fellowship that was given to him.
The Great News begins with God Himself and with us. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. But this is a big problem for us, because on our own we walk in darkness, and this means that we cannot walk with God, with whom there can be no darkness. This is the central problem of mankind, even when we do not recognize it. We are in darkness, and God is light, and the two can never meet.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we can have fellowship with Him and with one another. But how can this happen, since we are in darkness?
It was for this reason that Jesus, the Light of the World, was sent into this dark and weary world. He who is God of God and Light of Light became man; only He became the perfect man, the only one to walk in the light. What we could not do, He did for us. He perfectly kept the Law, and He perfectly obeyed the will of the Father who sent Him for us. Christmas and Easter are connected because He humbled Himself to be made a man that He might further humble Himself to the point of death, death upon the Cross. In doing this, He who was light took upon Himself our darkness and sin.
We all know the rest of the story. The light triumphed over the darkness, and the kingdom of heaven was now open to men.
But something is still missing. We are still in darkness. How can we who are still darkness have fellowship with the light? We know that we sin in our darkness, but He who is Light has promised to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, if we confess our sins.
Here is where the light meets the darkness and conquers it: it is first in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, the Life Eternal, and second, it is in all who faithfully seek the Light by confessing our sins before Him and turning (repenting) from the darkness and walking in the light.
The Great News is that if we do this one thing, we too can now have fellowship with God because when we are in the Light, we too are light. And light can have fellowship with light. We now can have the life eternal, and we can also have fellowship with St. John and each other and all who are also in the light.
This is the Gospel of St. John from 1 John 1.
John has two purposes in faithfully telling us these things. The first was that we might have fellowship with God and with one another. The second (verse 4) is that our joy may be full.
Today, let us seek the light and the fellowship and the joy that come from walking in the Light.
Prayer: Blessed be You Father, for out of Your love You sent Your Son to be the Light of the World. Thank You for translating me out of the kingdom of darkness and into Your glorious kingdom of light. By the grace of Your Holy Spirit may I be enabled to walk in the light as Jesus Christ is in the Light, that I may have fellowship with you and all others who are in Your light. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
Find a source of light, preferably the sun, and spend a few minutes meditating in the light. Meditate on God who is light and the light He has sent to You through His Son.
Resolution: I resolve today to meditate on the Good News that St. John brings and to receive it with joy.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
But at Christmas, God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to the world as the first and best Christmas present. St. John was a witness to that Son, the Word of life which was from the beginning, and his eyes saw Him and his hands touched Him. St. John the Evangelist, chosen by God to be His holy witness and apostle, did not fail to proclaim what he had seen, heard, and touched, and he writes to us that we too may believe.
St. John, the apostle of love, the disciple whom Jesus loved, demonstrates his love (which is the love of God) by sharing with us the Word of life that had first been shared with him. He has such love for those who are not in the light and have not seen the Word of life that he wants to share the Word with them. Out of the love which he learned from the Master, John wants to share the fellowship that was given to him.
The Great News begins with God Himself and with us. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. But this is a big problem for us, because on our own we walk in darkness, and this means that we cannot walk with God, with whom there can be no darkness. This is the central problem of mankind, even when we do not recognize it. We are in darkness, and God is light, and the two can never meet.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we can have fellowship with Him and with one another. But how can this happen, since we are in darkness?
It was for this reason that Jesus, the Light of the World, was sent into this dark and weary world. He who is God of God and Light of Light became man; only He became the perfect man, the only one to walk in the light. What we could not do, He did for us. He perfectly kept the Law, and He perfectly obeyed the will of the Father who sent Him for us. Christmas and Easter are connected because He humbled Himself to be made a man that He might further humble Himself to the point of death, death upon the Cross. In doing this, He who was light took upon Himself our darkness and sin.
We all know the rest of the story. The light triumphed over the darkness, and the kingdom of heaven was now open to men.
But something is still missing. We are still in darkness. How can we who are still darkness have fellowship with the light? We know that we sin in our darkness, but He who is Light has promised to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, if we confess our sins.
Here is where the light meets the darkness and conquers it: it is first in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, the Life Eternal, and second, it is in all who faithfully seek the Light by confessing our sins before Him and turning (repenting) from the darkness and walking in the light.
The Great News is that if we do this one thing, we too can now have fellowship with God because when we are in the Light, we too are light. And light can have fellowship with light. We now can have the life eternal, and we can also have fellowship with St. John and each other and all who are also in the light.
This is the Gospel of St. John from 1 John 1.
John has two purposes in faithfully telling us these things. The first was that we might have fellowship with God and with one another. The second (verse 4) is that our joy may be full.
Today, let us seek the light and the fellowship and the joy that come from walking in the Light.
Prayer: Blessed be You Father, for out of Your love You sent Your Son to be the Light of the World. Thank You for translating me out of the kingdom of darkness and into Your glorious kingdom of light. By the grace of Your Holy Spirit may I be enabled to walk in the light as Jesus Christ is in the Light, that I may have fellowship with you and all others who are in Your light. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
Find a source of light, preferably the sun, and spend a few minutes meditating in the light. Meditate on God who is light and the light He has sent to You through His Son.
Resolution: I resolve today to meditate on the Good News that St. John brings and to receive it with joy.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
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