1 John 2:7-8 (NIV)
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
This paradox caused a lot of puzzlement and thought last week ahead of Sunday’s sermon. I think the command John’s referring to is to love one another – it’s John, of course it is! But this command has been expressed in different ways. In the Old Testament it was a set of instructions, detailing how to love in certain contexts, or warning what not to do. In the New Testament, this command took a new form, it became flesh and walked amongst us, Jesus, giving us a living example to follow and experience. Far better. He gives us a much clearer picture of what it might be if we learnt to live a true life of love, as it will be in God’s kingdom.
Spirit, help me to step from the instructions to Christ, and from there towards the light of your kingdom.
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