2 John 1 --- The elder: To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not only I, but also all who know the truth—
After talking with the Lord this morning in prayer, we moved into verse 1 to begin our journey! What immediately jumped off the page at me is "whom I love in truth".
In the original Greek we see the word for love used is agapaō, which is the verb form of agapē. The Greeks had multiple words for love, and we've learned through study and context agape is the selfless, sacrificial love of God, from God and even who He is. (God is love - 1 John 4:8). What's awesome is John didn't just say, "whom I love", he connects it immediately with the source, "whom I love IN TRUTH". So, on to diving deeper into the source!
For us to love others as we're called, with agape love, we can only do so when plugged into the source, which is God. We learned through our journey in 1 John, it's not just head knowledge of Jesus, its abiding in Him and He in you. It comes from real relationship with God, where we are filled with Him and He, which He is agape love, can now flow through us to others. We can of course choose to withhold it, but if you are truly walking with Him regularly, you'll find it harder and harder to do so.
John's reference to the truth ties directly to Jesus! In John 14:6 Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.". You can also take the time to read through 1 John and see that it was a passion for him John to point out and warn his brothers and sisters from false teaching about Jesus and clearly direct us to the truth of who Jesus is and the good news of Jesus.
So, in the end of today's journey in the Word, I got to see John putting into action, loving his brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, just in the passionate opening of this letter. Which we learn in 1 John loving our Christian brothers and sisters is an expression of our love for God. So, we see this all in the opening sentence of a letter.
God's word never ceases to amaze me! So awesome.
Remember to be the Berean today and get into your Bible, talk with God, and see what He has in store for you!
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