Today we begin the first letter of John the Apostle. The letter was written to no church in particular, but to all Christians to encourage them in their faith and to counter false witnesses. It was written around 85-90 AD.

One of the false lies we like to tell ourselves is that we do not have sin as bad as the next guy. The truth is our sin, in God’s eyes, is the same no matter how big or how small. In 1 John 1:8 it says, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Let us not deceive ourselves or think we are deceiving others, including God, with our own delusional perceptions of our righteousness. None of us can claim to be better than anyone else. Our only boast is in the knowledge of Christ’s saving grace.

Another thought from today’s reading comes from 1 John 3:18 where it says Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. We can say kind words and tell those around us how much we love them, but if our actions do not match what we say, it is meaningless. I have heard it said many times, Love is a verb. Let us love others with our actions instead of our prideful words.