MONDAY: WHAT’S NEW? A NEW COMMAND

Jan 2, 2023
2 min read

1 John 2:7-11

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing, and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Today I have a new command: I was made to live in the Light, so I flee the darkness. Jesus is the Light. The Light is filled with love, in which there is nothing to make me stumble.

The darkness blinds me from knowing my God-given direction. If I walk around in the darkness, my heart is filled with hate.

When I walk in the Light, my heart is filled with love, and my spiritual direction is clear.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS

Several things make me blind to my direction. Unconfessed sin, selfishness, a proud spirit, unresolved conflict, unforgiveness, and a lack of compassion can contribute to the darkness in my heart.

In all these things, my heart is agitated and in chaos and turmoil. God wants my heart to be filled with Him, but to have that I need to repent of all the sinful things in my heart, asking Him to cleanse my heart for Him.

I desire to know where I am going; I want to know the direction and purpose for my life. I ask God to cleanse my heart. For everyone I haven’t forgiven, I forgive them. I don’t expect anything from them; I only have goodwill and God’s love for them.

Lord, I repent of all the dark things in my heart. Please wash my heart and fill it with You and Your Love. Amen.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman