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Have you ever been confused when people tell you something. I’m sure it has happened to you, right? When it happens, we usually ask questions to clarify or confirm the message. I remember as a teen, I misunderstood the instructions of the farmer I worked for. I didn’t stop to clarify things either. That day I drove the tractor through the wrong part of the field. It sank into the mud. My boss was not happy.
Hearing 1 John 2:7-8 may confuse us. It says, “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” (NIV)
What did John mean he wasn’t writing a new command, but then he said he was? Was he writing something new or something old? Are you confused? John posed a paradox as a literary device to focus attention. The command to love God and your neighbor was old, a part of the Mosaic Law. But the way Jesus loved was new, like light shining in the dark. Rather than loving someone like you love self, Jesus sacrificed his life. Today, remember to love others with the same love Jesus has shown you.
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Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.