goal: 1, 2, 3 John

this may be a little different but i think one thing that i want to do for Lent this year is the opposite of giving something up.

reading that Hobo Honeymoon book really got me thinking about what it is like to be on a honeymoon w/ Christ... sort of a journey of self discovery of my ultimate reliance on his love.

one thing i think i am going to do over the next 40 days is read 1st, 2nd & 3rd John over and over and over... i know that 1,2, 3 John all speak volumes on Love and God. if i read and study even just a chapter a day i will have read the those 3 books 7 times over. but i am committing to not just read the words. i want to digest the word. i imagine i'll be using Lectio Divina and other practices in order to help me see Jesus through the Word.


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i read through 1 john 1... (for the sole purpose of understanding God's love... a lenten goal of mine, so to speak...)

ironically the word love is not mentioned by written word in 1 John 1 - but the personification/example of love has left its mark.

i love the imagery of of 'walking in the light'. i picture this spotlight shining down... moving forward at our pace (so long as we maintain forward movement). to step out of the light naturally leads to a stumble. i picture how often i like to hang out on the fringe of the light - and then when that leads to me stumbling - how i never fall back into the light. i often crawl back - sometimes quickly - but light is only where Christ is. nowhere else.

to be in the light means to be surrounded by forgiveness. vs. 7 speaks of the blood sacrifice purifying us / or purging us of all sin.

i looked up the definition to purge: to be free from; to be clear of guilt; free from punishment; evacuated.

how often do we allow a false sense of guilt to remain - even after we've sought out forgiveness. that guilt feeling is false! we have been purged!