I am back. I took a few days apart with Sarah and then I was teaching at a men's retreat. No I have a little catch up to do. So here we go. 1 John 3 has two main themes that might not seem connected. First, there is the discussion about sin and our connection with God. Then there is the discussion about loving other people. On the surface they may seem like two different thoughts, however they are deeply connected.
When sin is allowed to run rampant in our lives, nothing good comes from it. Additionally, it is not like we can prevent sin in our lives, yet we can help to prevent it from controlling our lives. When sin is controlling our lives we become separated from God. the longer we allow sin to run our lives, the greater the separation from God. It seems pretty simple.
Ah then there is the love part. Followers of Christ understand we are called to love each other, even further to love all people. That out of love Christ laid down his life for us, and we are to be willing to do the same for other people. A hallmark of Christianity is love.
So how do those people go together? If sin is running your live, you will be moving apart from God. If you are running apart form God, you will have a lower capacity to love other people. Where the is sin, there is less love in relationships. Our ability to love each other is found in our ability to keep sin at bay.
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