Until someone loses an eye. Yeah. Like that happens all the time. I mean honestly, when was the last time you were playing around with some friends and someone lost an eye? I used to say “you’re not having any fun UNTIL someone loses an eye…”
"That was Crazy!"
"Man that was tight!"
"I laughed so hard I almost threw up!"
When was the last time you just had FUN? There are many things that we choose to do for just plain fun. Personally, I like movies, working out, the beach, and hanging out with my friends when I just want to kick back and have fun.
But there's a deeper side to "fun." We can do all the "fun" activities of life and still not have what we're really looking for. Even as Christians we sometimes miss out on the joy that we could experienceThe book of First John opens with "we write these things to you so that our joy may be complete." Now that sounds pretty good to me. What does "complete joy" really look like? If you could have "complete joy" the next time you hang out with your friends, would you want to? What about the next time you go to a concert or to the beach? I know I would.
As I look at the rest of First John, I see a couple things that we can do to truly have "complete joy" in our daily lives.
Obviously it starts with being saved. If you're not saved, you will never experience true joy.
But if you are a Follower of Jesus, guess what? You have everything you need to live an amazing, fun, joy-filled life! Really.
If you read through the rest of First John (5 quick chapters) you'll see a word repeated 20 times. If you look up the word, it means "(1) to accept or act in accordance with. (2) continue without fading or being lost."
The Amplified Bible describes "abiding" this way: living and remaining in communion with and in obedience to Christ. So in order to abide in Christ, we must simply act in accordance with Him.
Look at His example.
Walk as He walked (this doesn't mean wearing sandals, even though I'd wear nothibg but sandals given the choice). We do stuff every day. In all of the stuff you're doing ask yourself "am I walking as Jesus walked?" If Jesus went to my High School, would He be doing this?
The second definition is the cool one. The "continues without fading" part. This is the flip side of abiding. When we abide in Him, He abides in us. That's when our joy is made complete. When He is abiding in us. There are a couple other "themes" in First John, but I'll talk more about them in the coming days.
For today, ask yourself "how can I abide in Christ today?" I pray that you abide in Him and in his Word and that you have an amazing day full of "complete joy."
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2 comments:
well i can honestly say that If God went to my high school he'd be happy i didnt say im perfect i said im fairly ok this is a true story my aunt went to immanuel when rob zinn being his preaching career and she thought she was saved until he went to a conseling class and sunday school class todd barnett said to read 1 john she came to realize that she wasn't saved 1 John was the key in confirming if u are truely said. ppeople said yeah i prayed that prayer but im human i mess up but fact is if ur saved then u wouldn't be messing upp all the time u shoud be continueing to grow and u let God fix the things you are weak at so look at urself does ur lifestyle represent what God wants?
R u TRUELY saved or do u think ur saved rob Sign woke me up to realize that a Christian needs to live a lifestyle according to God im constantly in the word starting the day i realize i was falling away.
So, as you can see, I made a Google account so I could comment!
I really like when I laugh so hard tears come out & my belly hurts!
Good thing it doesn't happen too often though, people would think I'm crazy...
I get what 1 John says here....[I think] for me, I'm in complete joy when sharing the word or in the will of our LORD. Like you wrote, Walk as He walked. It really is true, it has always been that way for me, when I look back @ my joy....
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