Dear Climbing Companion: We have almost completed our journey. I am grateful to all who joined me this year. You are welcome to invite your friends here for 2012. After conversation, I searched the wide variety of Reading Plans on YouVersion (by the way, we need to all be grateful for the wonderful service they provide) and have decided to return to the One Year Bible Plan. I love it because it allows us to read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day. No single day is overwhelming and I love the variety. You can sign up for this plan on YouVersion later this week. Just sign in or sign up on their website (it's free!). They even offer to email you with the daily readings for this plan!
I hope you join us next year!
I read this passage when I was in a fog of self-doubt and self-condemnation. If that is the position of your heart on this day after Christmas, please be cautious. John (the disciple whom Jesus loved and author of the Gospel bearing his name) seems to indict those of us who fail to love perfectly or who sometimes commit sin. I hope you don't get stuck in that false supposition. Instead, I encourage you to find hope (I did) in some of the verses in the last chapters. For instance, And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11, 12 NLT)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness. His puts His love in our hearts. This isn't about sinless perfection, but about exchanging our old life for His life. On this day when many are back in the stores exchanging Christmas gifts, take advantage of the greatest exchange of all: we can exchange our old, broken, sinful lives for His life of love, forgiveness and righteousness.
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