Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning. I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work. 2 John 6-11
Some choices
promise better than others, but there is a new choice every second of every
lifetime:
· To remain…or go; continue breathing…or not
· To smile…or growl
· To resist life’s tragedies…or embrace the
challenges
· To love…or partner with the devil.
I recall
reading the account of a young man’s life, who, due to a skiing accident that crushed
most of his body’s bones, left him facing the reality of climbing uphill for what
was left of his days on this planet. Those
days were filled with pain, chronic, agonizing, and, at times, overwhelming
pain. Among the choices he entertained
during that dark time was the possibility of ending it all…the pain, any hope
of recovery, a miracle, or just the satisfaction of holding-on. I cannot recall the man’s name, or where I
read the story, but his words still ring deep in my soul:
I do not have choice about the pain and the circumstances
of my life, but, when it comes to joy, I can choose misery, or I can choose
joy.
His
testimony was that choosing joy over misery gave him a purpose; part of that
purpose was to help others embrace whatever challenge life throws their way.
Apostle John,
the same one whose Gospel account says that Jesus loved him, warned the church that
there were merely two choices available in life – love God, or partner with the
devil; the latter being a life built on deception, the chief of which was that
Jesus hadn’t really come in a flesh-and-blood body, to die a horrible death for
our sins. That was beneath God’s
dignity, and no self-respecting God would do such a thing. In short, those living in deception denied
Christ.
The opposite
side of that deception is truth, and to live in truth is to accept what is real.
Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection means everything else He told us is
true. And, past that point of accepting
Christ, we live as He told us to live, acting with love toward every other
human being, and doing that, no matter if it is reciprocated.
That is the
way God loves, and our mission is to live like our God demonstrated.
When facing
particularly challenging circumstances remember the choice between misery and
joy. Partnering with the devil’s
deception looks like a much easier way out, and it is – it’s your gateway to a life
of misery without parole.
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road today.
Have a blessed day!
Title image Pixabay.com ∞ Unless
noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on 2 John see: Imposters and
Old
Words That are New
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