THURSDAY 9th
1 John 2:6
‘By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.’
Here in verse 6, John says that if we say that we abide in Christ (echoes of the teaching of Jesus in John 15 about the Vine and the branches) then we should also ‘walk in the same way in which he walked’. This single sentence is enough for a sermon or two, but when taken and examined should be a challenge to each one of us who claims to follow Jesus, we should walk in the same way in which he walked! We will consider some of the ways in which Jesus walked.
We know from the previous verses that he would have walked in an attitude of love—that is why he came into the world, to love, a read of the gospel shows how much he loved, he didn’t make a bee line for the affluent, influential, the high and mighty (yes he did love them and did mix with them) but he went to those who were downtrodden and outcast, he went to those who needed to be loved.
He also walked with an attitude of obedience, he came to do his Father’s will, he came to speak the words that his Father told him to speak, he came to be obedient even to the point of death, even to death on a cross.
He also walked in holiness, even though he spent so much of his time with publicans and sinners, he knew no sin, he lived a pure and a holy life. He never enjoined with them in their sinful behaviour, but rather he challenged them about it and urged them to turn away from it.
He also walked in communion with God, he was a man of prayer, he sought to know the mind and the will of his Father.
May we as his disciples today and with the help of the Holy Spirit walk as Jesus walked, loving others, obedient to the will of God, walking in holiness in the world around us that is so anti-God and anti his righteous ways and walk in communion with our heavenly Father.
A closer look at this verse shows us that it is the manner of the way we walk that will be the evidence of whether or not we really are abiding in Christ. The challenge is this, does my life, my daily walk show that I am truly a disciple of Jesus! May our lives be lived in such a way that daily we are bringing glory to God and giving external evidence to those who watch us that Jesus really has made a difference.