For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
1 John 3
How do we know what love is? What is the practical outcome? We know what love is because Jesus demonstrated it for us. He held nothing back, even to His own life, so that we could have what we need. Not what we want, mind you, but what we need. Because of this we know that love does not serve self, that it sacrifices to meet needs, and that it requires action. That is why John said, “let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18).
And yet love is still complex and difficult to define. I think that word, “truth” helps a little. When I think about what it means to love in truth, a couple of things come to mind. One is simply that we aren’t paying lip service. We are willing to put action behind our words, confirming that our words are true.
Another thing that comes to mind, though, involves the concept of meeting needs. That thought likewise has a couple of parts to it. One lies in our motives. Things that we do out of self-serving motives we don’t truly do in love. The other lies in the truth of the need. That thought is harder to know and explain, but remember that Jesus did not do what people thought they needed and wanted. Everything He did met a true need, at the heart of which was reconciliation and communion with God. Therefore, how we love someone who loves and serves God might look different than how we love someone who does not. So how do we discern how to meet true needs out of true motives? “We know it by the Spirit He gave us.” (1 John 3:24b).
2 Chron. 21-22
What was the fundamental cause of this string of failed kings and short reigns? Jehoram, first born son of the God-seeking king, Jehoshaphat, married Athaliah, who was a descendant of Ahab. The house of Ahab was evil through and through. Athaliah was no exception. Athaliah was the mother of Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son. We know from the text that Ahaziah foolishly surrounded himself with wicked counsel, both from his mother and from the rest of the house of Ahab. Though it doesn’t say directly, I strongly suspect that Athaliah likewise encouraged her husband, Jehoram, to evil. She eventually went on to destroy the rest of Judah’s royal family and take the throne for herself. What a woman.
The way I see it, though, Athaliah was not the cause of Judah’s downfall. God-seeking king Jehoshaphat was. It was Jehoshaphat who made the decision to ally the house of Judah with the house of Israel through the marriage of his firstborn son. It was also Jehoshaphat who made the decision to let his firstborn son succeed him on the throne. Thus, it was Jehoshaphat’s actions that put Judah under the evil influence of the house of Ahab. That truth is an eye-opener that chills me to the bone.
Jehoshaphat was noted as being a man who sought God and followed His commands. The LORD blessed and protected him all his life. Yet he opened the door to a torrent of evil such as the kingdom of Judah had never seen. For all the good he did, this is the legacy that followed him. If such wickedness can follow in this Godly man’s wake, I know it can follow in mine as well. The message to me is, “Don’t mess around with evil”. Even if I manage to not get burned by that fire, those who come behind me will surely be consumed by it.
Ps. 82
Where do you see the unjust defended and the weak oppressed? Make that part of your prayers today. You certainly don’t need to look far these days to see the wicked being defended and protected or the weak and innocent being persecuted and even slaughtered. Godlessness and evil are held up as good and true while truth is being put down and silenced at every turn. It is disheartening, frightening, and even infuriating. But we don’t have to give in to those feelings. We know that God reigns supreme and that His day of judgment will come. In God’s eyes, it has already been. If we but wait we too will see that the wicked have fallen as we are brought into God’s eternal salvation.