Today’s reading will be a little different. We’ve been looking at 1 John 3: 11-24 this week and have been in 1 John all throughout the summer thus far. As I read this passage, my key takeaway that I keep returning to is the notion of abiding in Christ.  We are told often that that to walk in the path of Jesus is one of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as loving all persons we meet and I think this week showed us the path of choosing darkness, that path of Cain.

We talked this week about Cain, how his problem didn’t actually even start with Able, it started with him loving his stuff more than God and everything spiraled from there.  He was not abiding in God, first and foremost.  That lead to everything going haywire.

Our primary job in life is to abide in Christ.  Then when we abide in Him, our lives will reflect and follow Hi path and teaching.  I’ve said before, I’m not worried about making you a good person, I’m worried about you loving Jesus.  If you love Jesus, I truly, truly believe that he will take care of the rest.

Those who know me know that I’m a big fan of 12 Step Programs.  I think there is a lot that we all can learn from them, I think that sin is much like an addiction, it is something that if we don’t seek to manage or control it, it will overwhelm and destroy us. Part of the steps is a moral inventory.  For me, as a Chrisitan, that means giving the Holy Spirit room to search our hearts, minds, everything, show to us the areas of our lives where we have drifted from God and allow the Spirit to bring us back into right relationship with God.

What’s I’d like to do today is give us each the space to do just that.  Here is a great resource that can help.  I’d encourage you today, or in the coming days to this, and allow the Spirit to work within us to help us abide in Jesus.

https://www.12step.org/references/bible/step-4-scriptures/

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