Focus

Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.

Read

1 John 2:1-6 (NRSV)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

Reflect

There is a distinct difference between “talking the talk” and “walking the walk.” We all know someone in our lives who is all bark and no bite, someone who says a lot but never really does much. In my life, I’ve been that person many times. It’s easy to say the right things, but I’ve found it is much more difficult to embrace and live out your own words.

Jesus lived in a time where so many people, and especially so many religious people, said the right thing, but did something completely different. Because of this, Jesus’ ministry focused very little on what we should say, but rather on what we should do. This attitude was apparently still a problem around 100 years after John’s Gospel, when the letter we know as First John was written.

Knowing Jesus means following his commandments. Therefore, in our daily lives we must walk just as Jesus did—with the poor, the oppressed, and the hopeless.

The problem is that kind of walk takes work, difficult work. My favorite part of this passage is in verse 1, where the author states, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Even when we don’t walk the walk, Jesus loves us all the same.

Every day is a struggle for us to learn to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Let us devote ourselves to growing in Christ and growing in action.

Pray

Almighty God of the weak, it is hard to walk in your footsteps and do the difficult work you did. However, we thank you for loving us and showing mercy on us even when we fall short. Help us to grow in our devotion to the commandments of Christ so that every day we can begin to walk the walk of love. In the name of Christ Jesus, amen.

Go with God.