Thursday, January 22, 2026

Opening Scripture

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5

Opening Prayer

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you that your mercies are new again this morning. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants. Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation. They exult in your righteousness. You are their glorious strength. It pleases you to make us strong. Let your light shine in me so that others may see it and give you glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

1 John 2:28-3:24

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Reflection  

Today’s reading continues themes John has already introduced. He paints a beautiful picture of the believer’s relationship with God as a child of the Father. Indeed, we are children of God – not the world. And since the lost world doesn’t know God personally, they can’t understand our complete devotion and orientation toward Him.

Beyond affirming our divine family relationship with God, John encourages us to actively “continue in him.” He has already used the Greek verb for “abide” (meno) 10 times in Chapter 2, and he uses it again. Abiding in God is a foundational concept for John. In fact, he uses that word 66 of the 112 times it occurs in the New Testament. The abiding life is the abundant life!

In this passage, John again warns about the heresy of Gnosticism. There were false teachers in the Church (anti-Christs) promoting both licentiousness (nothing is wrong) and legalism (everything is wrong). There are ditches on both sides of the road! John condemns those paths and, in contrast, proclaims the way of love.

The true test of our love for God is obedience to his commands. “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another.”

Our belonging prompts our belief which prompts our behavior. The result is transformation on The Jesus Way.

Flourishing Habit

Character and Virtue

Creating new habits usually involves doing more of something and less of something. Lifestyle changes require both addition and subtraction!

What’s one thing you can take away today so you can do something else?

Connect the new habit to your values. Why do you want to start doing this?

Remove negative distractions and replace them with positive prompters.

“A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.” Desiderius Erasmus

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!