1 John 5: Walking with God
Sunday, July 2, 2023
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know God who is true; and we are in God who is true, in God’s Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)
In this chapter of John’s first letter we are told how we might conquer the world: believing in Christ, observing God’s commandments, living out the testimony we witness in God’s loving care for us, believing in God’s message that we are given the gift of eternal life that is quite real and not an illusion, and entering into dialog with God who loves us more than we can understand or imagine.
What do we see in Weistling’s painting? A loving father who gingerly holds his child’s hands – not too tightly and not too loosely. We see a small, eager face filled with confidence and trust – looking up, looking forward. We see traces of a workshop, the messy business of life where there are pitfalls and obstacles to overcome and learn from rather than deny or avoid. Perhaps the child’s mother has brought her husband a meal or has stopped for a quick visit between father and child. We might ask ourselves: are the parents aware of the dangers of the workshop and the world? Most likely they are. We might also ask as we pause today: Is the father teaching the child . . . or is the child teaching the father? How much might we learn from the small ones around us?
Today we reflect on our own first steps as children and we remember that the human Christ had to learn how to stumble, how to fall, and how to stand again. We reflect on how we as adults have nurtured the children given as gift to us. And we reflect on how we might become childlike in our trust in and dependence on God. Are we the worried parent always looking to avoid the fall? Or are we the eager child always trusting in the Lord?
For more on 1 John 5, visit: https://www.bibleref.com/1-John/5/1-John-chapter-5.html
Images from:https://www.morganweistling.com/portfolio/
Over the next few weeks we will be away from easy internet access but we will be pausing to read scripture and to pray and reflect at noon, keeping those in The Noontime Circle in mid-day prayer. You may want to click on the Connecting at Noon page on this blog at: https://thenoontimes.com/connecting-at-noon/ In these posts, we will have the opportunity to reflect on a scripture verse and an artist’s rendition of that event. Wishing you grace and love and peace in Christ Jesus.
The Noontimes 