1Jhn2:1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. - NIV
1Jhn3:1How great is the 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. 2Dear friends, now we are
children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know
that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone
who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But
you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no
sin. 6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.
No one who continues
to sin has either seen him or known him. 7Dear
children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is
righteous, just as he is righteous. 8He who
does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9No
one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him;
he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This
is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil
are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone
who does not love his brother. 11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love
one another. - NIV
1Jhn3:12Do 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. 13Do not be surprised, my
brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from
death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in
death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know
that no murderer has eternal life in him. 16This is how we know what
love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our
lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has
material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how
can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children,
let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is
how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in
his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater
than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before
God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his
commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to
believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he
commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in
them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he
gave us. - NIV
1Jhn4:7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does
not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God
showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we
might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but
that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No
one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love
is made complete in us. 13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his
Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his
Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that
Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we
know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love
lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete
among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this
world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is
not made perfect in love. 19We love because he first loved us.
20If anyone says,
"I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does
not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And
he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. - NIV
1Jhn5:1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and
everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how
we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his
commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his
commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the
world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who
is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God. ..... 11And this is the testimony:
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who
has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I
write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you
may know that you have eternal life. 14This is
the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to
his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he
hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. .....
18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who
was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We
know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control
of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has
given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him
who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. - NIV
2Pet1:2Grace and peace be yours in
abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us
everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who
called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through
these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them
you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world
caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make
every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and
to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to
perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness,
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For
if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from
being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But
if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten
that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10Therefore, my brothers, be
all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these
things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive
a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
- NIV
Challenge: True Life