What The Bible Says
Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice
There is something comforting in reading the aged Apostle John's letter to “my little children.” He tells us, “Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments … whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1John.2:3,5). John writes, that our “joy may be full” and he echos Jesus' words, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; … These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (Jn.15:10-11). Jesus said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (Jn.13:17). In winter, the world is lying dormant and it is good to stop for a moment and reflect on these things. John helps here, just to “know the we know him” and to see, in ourselves, “the love of God perfected.”
The Bible goes about to give us assurances that we know him, in the 1st person (I, me, us, & we), to give us the “tells” to assure those close to us know him, in the 2nd person (thy, thee, you, & you-all) (Jn.13:35), and to gives us insight about the crowds we hang with, in the 3rd person (they & them) (1Jn.2:19). This winter, while hunkered down with cabin fever, ponder these things: “Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments … By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. … They went out from us, but they were not of us; … but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” Ponder that, … or, in Hebrew, Selah.
An Essay for week #3, Jan 21, 2024
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A weekly 300 word essay- The Penny Pulpit
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