“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.”

— 1 John 3:14

John is saying here if we hate our brother, this is murder and that we are a murderer. Now there are many people who cannot even imagine going so far as to murder another person, but he is saying that hatred is like unto murder.

It may be the difference between a mild case and a severe case of the same disease but it is the same infection, the same germ which pervades the body of both. It is the same type of crime, though different in degree. And you know, he says, that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. The Greek phrase translated as “and you know that no murderer has eternal life” means you know it requires no argument, it requires no demonstration, it doesn’t even require reflection. But rather instinctively you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So if you hate your brethren, it is self-evident by prima facie evidence that eternal life does not abide in you.

If you have that desire to do someone in out of revenge, if you harbor that hatred within your own heart, then says John, you are akin to a murderer—even as Cain himself was a murderer, and that type of hatred continues throughout the world.

But there is also something to be said for those who truly repent of their sins, including the sin of murder. The hymn declares, “The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” And once saved, let us walk in love.

Lord of life, You give us life and love and the taking of life is not up to us. The germ of hatred is anti-love and leads to death. Thank You that it cannot grow in a heart where Your presence is manifest. Please remove from us any root of bitterness and any hatred…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, HATRED
CAN BE REPLACED BY LOVE.

“His master answered, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!’”

— Matthew 25:26

The Lord Jesus has some unkind things to say about the deliberately slothful person. In the parable of the talents, the Lord lambasts the third man because he was lazy.

The Bible admonishes us to be not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit serving the Lord, and therefore by our fervency in our business we are also serving the Lord. And Paul says that if a man will willfully not work then neither shall he eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

And yet we live in a day when these things are being greatly ignored to the detriment of our society. One time some counties instituted a “workfare” program which was to substitute for the welfare program that had been in effect. Sadly, many able-bodied people did not take advantage of this. Too many of them just wanted something for nothing. We are producing more and more people who are being taught by our government in effect that the world owes them a living.

This is a sin and we as Christians need to face up to that. We are producing a generation of slothful, indigent people and it does not portend well for our society.

Furthermore, it does not help the poor, especially since the wealth-transfer systems break the back of the urban family. It is a great tragedy when we as individuals or as a nation stray from God’s principles. God’s ways still work, and He has designed us for work. Granted, some people in extreme cases cannot. But the exception should not make the rule.

Dear God, thank You for creating us to work. Thank You for the blessings of accomplishments and the joy in a job well done. Help us to do work well and always help those who are unable to do so…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
DO OUR WORK TO HIS GLORY.

“The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry?…If you do well, shall you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must rule over it.’”

— Genesis 4:6

In the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4, we see a great contrast between true religion and false religion. Of course, in our day when people believe truth is relative, many recoil at such a notion as true versus false religion.

The nature by which Cain’s works were unrighteous and Abel’s works were righteous was very simply this: Abel held to the right views and practice of religion, while Cain held to false views and practices of religion.

Abel you may recall came before God and brought the sacrifice of one of his flock and offered this sacrifice with the shedding of blood and the giving of a life. Whereas Cain, on the other hand, brought the fruit of the fields from his toil as a farmer and he brought that, and he offered it to God, and he was rejected, whereas Abel’s sacrifice was accepted.

Everywhere in the world there is the same picture of Cain’s type of religion where man brings the fruit of his own labors and offers it up to God—his own goodness, his own morality and piety and benevolence—and he is astonished and chagrined when it is not accepted by God, and he does not receive that inward peace of knowing that he has been forgiven and accepted by God. Whereas the Christian knows that it is only by the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, that he is accepted.

Lord God, we see Cain and the chance You gave him to find victory over temptation. Sin is always crouching at the door. Please give us strength for today to overcome it. Help us to please You today…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE
CAN OVERCOME TEMPTATION.

“Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you.”

— 1 John 3:13

We often hear people talk about a person who has a “holier than thou attitude.” Now if there is anything that we hate it is a holier than thou attitude. But there probably is one thing that we hate even more and that is a holier than thou fact; in other words, often we totally forget that there are people who are in actual fact holier than we are.

Justification admits of no degrees whatsoever—there is no one in this world who is more justified than I am, because I am completely and totally justified. I am totally pardoned from all of my sins and accepted as righteous before God. But unlike justification, which admits of no degrees, sanctification does admit of degrees and is greater in one than in another.

So there are indeed in just about any church at any given time people who are at all levels of spiritual growth and sanctification. People who are at all levels of holiness; and if there is one thing that makes many people uncomfortable, it is to be in the presence of someone that is markedly and notably more holy than they are because it is a silent condemnation of their ungodliness and of the remnants of wickedness and worldliness that still cling to their lives. That is why the world sometimes will hate us. May God give us the grace to walk in holiness and to aspire to be more holy.

Holy Father, we wish to be more holy and for Your image to be seen more clearly in us. Grant us to walk in humility and holiness. Let us seek our friendship with those who are holier than we are…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE ARE MADE HOLY.

“Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

— 1 John 3:12 KJV

Wickedness will sometimes do all it can to suppress righteousness. Jesus said that light has come into the world, but men prefer darkness because their deeds are evil.

Cain was of that wicked one, of Satan, of whom Jesus said that he was a murderer from the beginning and who inspired Cain to his terrible deed of murder. The term that is used in the Greek text for “slew,”—he slew his brother—is an unusual term, and it tells us something about the brutality of the deed that was involved. The term might very accurately be described or translated as “butchered.” The original text means to slit the throat, and apparently Cain did a very thorough job on his brother.

Why did he do it? Because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous. We see here a horrifying picture of the evil capabilities of the human heart and of the total depravity of man.

Envy had goaded Cain to such a place, because of the fact that the righteousness of his brother was an indictment against him, that he was brought to the place of even killing Abel. Sadly, virtually everyone has experienced at some time or another in his own life the feeling of envy, which, as someone noted, withers at another’s joy, while hating the excellence it cannot reach. Ask God to purify your heart from envy, so it will never take root there.

O Lord, it is hard to understand man’s cruelty to man and when we see evil all around us, we are horrified by it. But when we see the dirty fingerprints of Satan even on our own heart, we shudder and run to You for cleansing…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN KEEP
ENVY IN OUR HEARTS IN CHECK.

“…We should love one another, not like Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. …”

— 1 John 3:11 – 12

In 1 John, the beloved apostle talks about the importance of love. He contrasts that with hate as seen in Cain, who killed his brother Abel.

First, he holds up a picture of Cain and, secondly, a picture of Christ. Cain, the prototype of hatred, and Christ, the prototype of love, stand in stark contrast one to the other and are indicative of the children of the Devil and the children of God.

We will remember that Christ taught that there are two families in this world. There is not a fatherhood of God and a brotherhood of man as some people vainly wish and proclaim. But Jesus said there are two fatherhoods and there are two brotherhoods. There are two families: there is the fatherhood of God and the fatherhood of Satan. There is an antipathy on the part of the family of Satan toward the family of God, which is as long as history and is worldwide and never ending.

Cain was the prototype murderer—the first slayer of men—the one who was to begin the bloodletting that was going to end in a great river, even a great sea of blood, to this very day. Cain was of his father, of Satan, of whom Jesus said that he was a murderer from the beginning. Those born of God do not hate, like Cain, but strive to love, like Christ.

Father God, many claim to want love and world peace, but hatred is strong and seems to be all around us. Thank You that love is more powerful than hate and that one day, love will conquer and You will triumph over all evil…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
OVERCOME HATE WITH LOVE.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with gratitude, make your requests known to God.”

— Philippians 4:6

When Abraham Lincoln was a circuit rider for the courts as a lawyer, going to wherever the courts were being held in small towns, he had to cross a lot of rivers. That included the notorious Fox River, which, in times of rain, was most turbulent and extremely dangerous.

One night he and a colleague had crossed several rivers in the days before, and his companion had said to him, “If these are this bad, what in the world is it going to be like when we try to cross the Fox?” And it just so happened that that night, as they stayed in an inn, there was a Methodist circuit rider there who had been traveling those parts for almost fifty years. And they asked him if he knew about the Fox River, and he said, “Oh, my, yes. I know all about that. I have been crossing it innumerable times for many years.” And they asked if he had any advice about how they might cross it safely. He said, “Absolutely. I have discovered that there is one secret about the Fox River which I never fail to keep in mind.” He said, “I never cross it until I reach it.”

Well, I think that all of us have faced a great many Fox Rivers that we have “crossed” when we were yet miles away. By the time we have arrived at them, we discover that a drought has come, and the river has dried up. Turn your worries over to God. Instead of worrying, pray and give thanks—and watch God take care of your Fox River by the time you get there.

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You for taking care of so many of the problems we have worried about. We see Your hand straightening out our path, and we thank You for sending Your angel before us…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN TURN
OUR WORRIES OVER TO GOD.

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love his brother remains in death.”

— 1 John 3:14

The scripture commands us to examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith and it makes clear that it is possible because of the deception of our own hearts, to be self-deceived and to be in error concerning our own salvation. I am sure that there are numerous people within the church of Christ who assume that they are saved and yet are not.

In 1 John, he lays down some key principles that help us understand this. He says, for example, “The one who does righteousness is righteous” (1 John 3:7).

He also looks at the specific subject of love, especially as the sign and test of our divine sonship. John begins by saying that this is the message that we heard from the beginning that we should love one another. This was the new commandment that Christ gave—that we should love one another, as He has loved us.

It is this commandment that John picks up on at this point and begins to describe to us. Not only was it the new commandment that summed up the ethical teaching of Jesus, but more than that it is the sign and test of whether or not we are part of the family of God. Whether we indeed have been saved or whether we deceive ourselves. How do we know we are saved? We have a love for our brothers and sisters in Christ that was not there before.

God of love, increase our love for You and our love for our fellow Christians. We only love because You loved us first. We pray today that Your love will so fill our hearts that it will overflow to the people around us…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE
CAN LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

“Come, and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no more be a reproach.”

— Nehemiah 2:17

Nehemiah was a great man of God and yet a most unusual one. He wrote no psalms, directing the people of God to lifting up their hearts in exaltation and worship as David did. He did not leave us with hundreds of proverbs with which to guide our daily lives as Solomon did.

He wrote no epistles instructing us in the faith so that we may be built up in our spiritual knowledge. He did none of these things. However, what he did was quite unusual: He built a wall. It is most remarkable that the Bible contains an entire book written about the subject of building a wall.

It was, or course, a most important wall; it was the wall that would protect Jerusalem and its temple (which had been rebuilt) from the attack of enemies. Nehemiah well knew that the temple had been destroyed before only after the walls had been breached and broken down. He knew that if the religion of God’s people was to continue, there must at least be some hiatus in the singing of psalms and the teaching of proverbs, for there was a practical job to do—the wall must be rebuilt.

God calls His children to do different things. We each have our part in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. The key is to make sure that we are on track to faithfully carry out what He has called us to do—even if it is to build a wall.

Lord, our protector, thank You for watching over Your people. Help us to protect and preserve that which You have entrusted to us. Let us gladly do the tasks You assign us, whether they are glamorous or menial…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
COMPLETE ANY TASK HE ASSIGNS US.

“If it is displeasing to you to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve…”

— Joshua 24:15

Our culture seems to worship youth and warehouse the elderly. But there are many instances in the Bible where God uses elderly people who were committed to Him.

Did you ever stop to think that Joshua was just a young man when he left Egypt? Then 40 years passed by while he was in the wilderness, and then another 50 years or more passed, and by then Joshua was an old man. He was now a man of 110 years and during all of that time he had been faithful and he had trusted in the Lord and believed His promise and with unwavering faithfulness had gone on serving the Lord as God called him to do as a warrior for God.

And so at last the aged Joshua, 110 years old, gathers together the people of Israel at Shechem and there with flowing grey locks, he calls upon them again to renew their faith and to trust in the Lord and to live for Him and he utters those famous words, “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” He said that on the very day of his death, 110 years old—and for all of that time he had been doing just that.

Whether you are old or young, don’t think that the Lord cannot use you if you commit yourself to Him. May we write Joshua’s words on our heart—to actively choose to serve the Lord.

Lord, my heart gives a resounding YES, as for me and my house, we will serve You. Help us to do so faithfully at any age and in all circumstances…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE WILL
SERVE HIM THROUGH ALL OF LIFE.