Awhile back my three year old came into my bedroom bawling! Full blown devastation. Huge tears and agony! I finally got her calmed down enough to tell me what was causing this horrendous breakdown. Her response…”Sutton forgot to take her blankie!!!” (Insert more wailing).
Her friend had spent the evening playing at our house. Apparently, at one point Everly had told Miss Sutton that she could take her FAVORITE blanket. That she could take it home, snuggle it, cradle it, and love it as Everly had!
Everly knew this pink and purple Minnie Mouse blanket was the epitome of blanket-goodness and she wanted Sutton to experience the fullness of its fleecy wonder! She was devastated when she realized it was left at our house.
If you follow this blog, you may know that last week I was extremely challenged to start memorizing scripture and wrote a post about this man who memorizes full books of the bible! I, on the other hand, have been a bible memorization failure and was no longer okay with it.
After 6 days of reading and reciting, reading and recording, reciting, typing, writing, and reciting…I finally have it memorized. I am not writing this for any type of “yay-Brooke-thoughts,” but to remind us of the incredible transforming power of this Word!
Here’s 1 John 1…
The Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our[a] joy may be complete.
Walking in the Light
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
I have read this chapter loads of times over the years (and even more in the past few days) and the first four verses were always skimmed over, not fully understood, passed by, and neglected as I tried to get to the whole walk in the light part.
Prior to the past few days, here’s what I normally took from 1 John 1.
-Light = Good
-Darkness = Bad
-Walk in the light because Jesus is in the light (and darkness is creepy, and you can’t see intruders, and you stub your toes, and step on legos, and earrings, and all bad things lie in darkness…which is why I, at 30 (there I admitted my age), still sleep with a hall light on).
But, after meditating on these verses. Reading and reciting them day after day, I now see just how deep and rich it is.
In verses one through four, over and over the author says we’ve heard it, seen it, look and touched it, testify to it and proclaim it…the word of life! These believers had experienced it! And because of the greatness of it all. It’s magnificence. The unity the believers had with the each other, with God, with Jesus…they wanted to proclaim it so that others could experience it too!
All of this good stuff we’ve heard, seen, touched, looked upon…we are telling you so that you get to have what we have. Fellowship with other believers…and even better with the Father and Son! As a kid, I remember thinking that I wanted to be so full of Jesus and His joy, love, goodness, etc. that people would wonder what was different about me and want it too. This chapter reminds me exactly of that. These believers seemed thrilled to proclaim the gospel, to have fellowship with each other and with Jesus. They wrote about it so their joy would be complete (v 4). They found joy in proclaiming the Gospel. It wasn’t a burden. They weren’t ashamed. They were thrilled to share this Good News and the goodness of their intimacy with Jesus!
Going back to Everly. This kid had experience the greatness of this tiny blanket and wanted nothing more than her best friend to have what she had. The comfort it brought her. The cuddly-ness of Minnie Mouse. The excitement of getting to experience your BFF’s favorite blanket!
I turned 30 this week (I’m not finished sulking), so I guess I’m officially an adult (since apparently marriage, a grown-up job, mortgage, and three kids didn’t do the trick) and I can’t help but wonder if we simply quench this excitement as we settle into our 8-5 jobs, our endless loads of laundry, cooking and dishes, our possibly repetitious types of lives. But as this has reminded me, I want to simply remind you to find joy in sharing what Jesus has done!
Bye friends! 🙂