There are countless translations of Bibles in the English language alone. They have various qualities and differences. In my home there are numerous different ones available. Over the summer I made a decision to spend some time reading a different translation of scripture on a daily basis. For years I have primarily read an NIV Bible that my first pastor recommended. I will always love that specific Bible and you can tell. For a variety of reasons, I am spending a prolonged time reading my New King James Version. Sometimes just spending time in a different translation helps one to see something that they had not seen or focused on before.
There is a word which stands out for me and that is the word “abide”. The word abide is found in the NIV but it is not used with the same flourish. At this time in my walk with the Lord to abide has become a major theme. There is a sense in which the definition of abide seems inadequate. I like Webster's third definition of the word best: “to continue without fading or being lost”, but still “to abide” is much more than not losing something. “To abide”, when used by Jesus, is to continue to stay connected, to remain strongly in something. Our something is a someone: We abide in Christ; we abide in the Father, and the Holy Spirit abides in us!
W-ord
1 John 2:27-29
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. (emphasis mine)
O-bservation
John writes us these things that we might not sin. Truth must lead in life. Light is truth and God is light. There is a major word repeated in this chapter and in the next of 1 John and that is- to abide. John writes this because we know truth. Now we are to abide in truth. I count at least five times in the last few verses of John chapter two that we are told to abide: 1) Abide in truth. 2) Abide in what you believed first.3) Abide in the anointing you received. 4-5) Abide in the Son. Also in the Father abide!
R-eflection
Righteousness for the sake of righteousness, that was my firm conviction when I first came to follow Jesus. Now, I know that first John addresses this idea where it says; “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him (vs29). I could not have put this or any any verse on defending righteousness as a way of life back when I first surrendered my life to the Lord. It was right to stand for righteousness even when I was not yet well versed in scripture. The anointing was received way back many many years ago now and that anointing abides even today. Those things I have really learned then and now are from the Holy Spirit anointing which teaches all things.
1 John 3:24
“Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
He who practices righteousness is righteous. There is a key to all this righteousness and that He abides in us by the Holy Spirit He has given us. The Holy Spirit He has given us is the deposit of righteousness, that part which seals us as children of God.
To abide is to remain, what remains is the Spirit so you and I are made righteous as a child of God. Now as part of this family of God we will do righteous things like extend the call to the family of God to others who may not yet know Him. I will extend righteousness as part of practicing righteousness.
This is the reason Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. This destruction of the works of the devil was not a partially accomplished goal. Jesus was manifest to destroy all the works of Satan. That means every sickness, all of everything that comes as a result of sin, not just my sin but unjust systems of this world. How do we in righteousness fully apply all that Jesus has done?
D-evotion
This is my prayer: Father I do not know how to apply all that Jesus has done for us. Teach me how to walk in these things and apply all that Jesus has done for us and extend this to others that they might also know.
May the Love of Jesus capture your heart. He loves you more than you can fathom.
Grace
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