Charisma Magazine

1 John 2:18-3:6 When we went to India in 1980, I met a young man who I had a hard time loving. He was a manipulator, and I did not care for his mode of operation. During our visit to India I managed to be civil toward this young pastor, but it was not easy. Frankly on many occasions I wanted to tell him off, but the Holy Spirit helped me hold my tongue.

1 John 2:1-17 In these last days before the Lord returns, it seems the world is increasing in evil. The Bible tells us this will happen. Timothy tells us that in the last days seducing spirits will be everywhere. We have this hopeful word in God's Word that says where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Sometimes my husband and I sit at our peaceful dinner table and remark to one another, "Things are really getting bad out there." One only has to watch the news to see the corruption in our world and the steady descent into more darkness. Sometimes after watching the news I want to say, "Stop the world! I want to get off!!" Today's reading gives us the reason the world is such a mess. We cannot blame it on God or even the devil. We only have to look at ourselves to find the answer to our predicament. Listen to what John says: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (vv. 15-17, KJV).

1 John 1:1-10 Fellowship is a Christian buzz word, but what does it mean? I heard one definition: "Fellowship is fellows in the same ship on the sea of life." This is not a bad definition, because we usually fellowship with people who are going on the same journey we are. There is nothing sweeter than Christian fellowship. If we miss fellowship with those in the body of Christ, we are risking falling away from the faith. As we learned in Hebrews, we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. So often when people leave a Christian fellowship or church, they do not attach themselves to another. When asked where they are going to church now, too often the response is, "I'm having church at home now." If we cut ourselves off from the body of Christ, our Lord soon has nothing to direct in our lives. Jesus is the head of the body and if we detach ourselves from the body, we will be cut off from the wisdom and the mind of Christ. We will not be able to see how the body can function together under the headship of Jesus.

Psalm 119:132-155 David says several times in this psalm that his hope is in God's Word. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for as we learned earlier in our study of Hebrews. The substance that gives us hope is the Word of God.