1 John 5:1-6 (NRSV)
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Chapter 5Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. Verse 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. Verse 3For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, Verse 4for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Verse 5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Verse 6This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
Devotion
As a member of a family, you come to know and practice your family’s rules. Soon after our marriage, my wife and I bumped up against differences in the rules of the families we had come from. We had to negotiate the rules for our newly created family. We left some rules from our families of origin behind—like her always doing the cooking, and me always paying the bills. We soon resolved that I’m the better cook, and she’s the better accountant. But some family rules are non-negotiable. We express and live out our love by caring for one another. It’s love for one another that makes us family and holds us together. The same holds true in the family of God. It’s love that makes us family and holds us together—God’s love, expressed and lived out in our care, respect, and love for one another.
Prayer
Loving God, through Christ you make us sisters and brothers, a family revealing your love through our care, respect, and love for one another. Increase your love within us, that all may come to see and know you through us. Amen.