Just a few extra minutes…

Just a few extra minutes….

I’ll wait till it reaches 8:00…8:05…8:15…8:30…

All my bad days usually start with a few extra minutes or more in bed. Those few minutes which should be spent reading the Bible, having breakfast, washing, or general preperation. But why do I keep doing it again and again?! I’m such a frsutrating person! As I write this I’m waiting for the bus I’m waiting at the Beddau bus stop with Stefani in my ear, no word of God in my mind, food in my stomach and a dark cloud hanging over me all for a few extra minutes in bed! It’s not worth it! I expect you’re wondering why I’m writing this, but it’s for my own good. I guarantee I’ll make the same mistake next week, I can be a very slow learner.

I’m making a pact, that I will get up an hour earlier than I usually do from now on.

Yeh right.

But getting up later in the morning not only affects my physical life but also my spiritual life. I’ve noticed how the lack of morning study can really affect the rest of the day. Over the past week of lie-ins I’ve noticed how much I’m becoming like the world and it truly is frightening. I can’t allow it to continue otherwise my Christian life will produce no fruit whatsoever. Is that what I want?

My Bible reading this morning is from 1 John 2:1-17 and it says this:

1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

A New Commandment

7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister,[a] that person is still living in darkness. 10 Anyone who loves another brother or sister[b] is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. 11 But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
12 I am writing to you who are God’s children

because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.[c] 1

3 I am writing to you who are mature in the faith

because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.

I am writing to you who are young in the faith

because you have won your battle with the evil one.

14 I have written to you who are God’s children

because you know the Father.

I have written to you who are mature in the faith

because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.

I have written to you who are young in the faith

because you are strong.

God’s word lives in your hearts,

and you have won your battle with the evil one.

Do Not Love This World

15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

It’s the last bit that’s the real challenge. It’s amazing how God can give you a passage of Scripture that challenges but at the same time gives you hope of salvation when you really need it. I’ve a lot to learn.

Dan