“Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning” (1 John 2:7).
TEXT — 1 John 2:6-14
Message
Peter A. Fraille, a Jesuit priest and founder of the “Divine and Human Institute,” tells of a letter he once received from a sixteen-year-old girl,who was offended by someone in her school. She wrote about the anger, and frustration she was feeling and how she was trying to deal with it. She went onto say that even though she now disliked her, the friend is still as lovable and valuable as she is herself. Then she ended the letter with these beautiful words: “As I was finishing this letter, something hit me like a ton of bricks. I have seen my father’s library, and he has many books that I want to read. I have lots of time ahead of me to read and to learn, but I just realized one thing. No matter how much I learn, no matter how much I experience, no matter how much I write, if I don’t love, I don’t know anything!”
Apostle John is counsels his readers in today’s text. “I write no new commandment unto you”, he said. God’s commandment of light, and love are as old as man. Today, these commands remain relevant as the air we breathe. “Love one another” is as divine as it was when God created man and the whole world. Love one another is a repetition of God’s command to not bear a grudge or take vengeance. Christ had enriched this command with a new meaning. Now, Apostle John polished and shined divine light on what is already known and established. The responsibility to love is not just a suggestion but a command from God to all men to be like Him.
As it was in Apostle John’s day, so it is today. God’s commandments extend to little children in Christ – those who just became born again. They are enjoined to love God and their neighbours just like the knowledgeable Fathers and young men. Beyond this, we must love one another as Christ loved us sacrificially, by laying down His life as a ransom for all. God’s command to all has not changed. What He commanded of old is still relevant today.
God called the patriarchs to circumcision as a token of His covenant with them. He calls all believers today to sanctification as a token of our love for Him. Today, the love of God beckons to sinners to repent and join the heavenly chariot where love and light abide.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
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