1 John 3

Ok. So I found that this chapter was heavy on how we should stay strong on our faith.
Technically, it says that we should strive to be more like Jwsus, while everybody may hate us for our faith, we should be strong and persevere. In a sense, it reflects on the persecution we had at the retreat and it says that we should be slow to be tempted by the devil.

hey sorry i didnt post yesterday, i came home late. k so i thought that this chapter was really deep into our faith with God. for the most part it was saying that we should try to be more like Jesus even if others may not like us and put us down for our faith, we should always continue to work our way to be better Christians. oh btw i wont be able to go to practice tomorrow...im sick (again)...sorry! i will hopefully be able to go to church on sunday.

To be honest this chapter was really confusing. The first part was talking about how we should be like God so we should know that we have sinned btu our sins have been washed away because whoever beilves in God, their sins have been cleaned. As well no one who was born of God will continue to sin because God's seeds remain in them.
2nd part, We should love one another like how Jesus loved us. We should lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters just like Jesus who laid down his life for us.

Pretty much all i got again it was really confusing.

wow i remmeber verse 1 when i was studying for baptism i think when i had to memorize the same part as verse 1.
"How great is the love the Father ahs lavish on us, that we should e called children of God!
hahaha this is a really important verse because God loves us so much and sacrificed so much for us. Its saying that how can WE be children of God when we are uncontrollable sinners. Even though its hard, we shuold always try to be like God and be humble and carry on teh characteristics that Christ did.
Sinning is like breaking a law, that is how severe it is and yet we do it without even knowing. It says in the chapter that there is no law that can justify how bad sinning is... WE SHOULD CHANGE.
Through good and bad times, we get to know others. Some may turn out to be your best friends, some can turn out to be annoying niners. but you always got to love your neighbors as you love yourself, and Christ because that is the way of the lord. Love your neighbors and be humble for that is what God acknowledges.

Gnight!

18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Alright, so in other words, actions speak louder than words.
You have to show that you love God. You can't just SAY it.
Oh, and something that isn't really in this chapter but to remember, is to do this humbly.
Don't go around boasting about God. Be modest and show that you appreciate what God is in your life.

That's it! haha see you all tomorrow!

sorry i didnt post yesterday :S i was up really late doing physics to do a test today thatss not a good excuse but i was really scared D:
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters,[c] if the world hates you.
i really like this connection that these verses make, cain killed his own brother just because his brother was righteous, and he was not! so even if all of the people in the world are our family, they might hate us if we are righteous, JUST because we are righteous and they are not! :O haha
i also like this comparison :
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
this is how we love! like pastor mark was saying, to love, we dont have to like the person, we just have to show commitment to them, thus showing them love through our actions
see yall tmr!

13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

So Dryyy hahaha. But to be honest, This applies to our daily lives. It made me think of many reasons why non christians are non christians. Maybe it's cause they were raised that way, or even if they were given the choice, they'd say no because perhaps they'd like to live a life without having religion affecting their conscious. The world will always look down on us but the bible says don't be surprised. We have to learn to expect that the christian walk is definitely not an easy one. There might be even more hardships than that of a regular life but at the end of the day, what we're doing is right because it's all about God and it always will be.


Yeee see ya tomorrow
Excitedd

Sorry I haven't posted for a while guys, I had sooo much work and I had a black out while my phone died.... Sooo sorry

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

verses that we had to memorize for one of our retreats. aha I remember, good times.. Well these verses are actually something that we need to take in our hearts. Because God loved us soo much that he calls us his sons. Sorry for the chicks, you guys don't count. JKS JKS!! yea and the only son that God has is Jesus. The only reason why we are called God's sons are because we were free from sin and that we should be more like Jesus...

12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

These verses stood out to me because of my own issues with my brother. I have some personal things against him but with the time that God's given to me, one day Im going to have to learn how to love what you hate. That's SOOO DIFFICULT, I don't know How I'm going to manage it but with God anything is possible, even changing my own heart and also my brother's

That's it for today I guess

Chiao

Hey everybody!
I hope your day is good so far....

So chapter 3 talks about how we have to truly love one another. If we do this we will be loved by God, in verse 12 it gives an example of Cain and Able. What I got from the example was Cain did not give his love into the offering he gave before God while Able was putting everything he had for God. God had favored Able more than Cain because he had love. Thinking to present day, I think that offerings or devos are only good when we really mean it....this reminds me of the story in the bible of a rich person put so much money in the offering box while this poor woman put in very little money.....Jesus explained to his desciples that God apreciates the poor womans offering than the big ammounts of money that the rich put in. It was because the woman put in the money that was precious since she worked very hard for that money while the rich make much more money than the amount that was put in. This reminds me of the saying: "It is quality not quantity."

See everyone tomorow!
~Audrey~