Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

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Read

1 John 5:1-5,13-21 (NRSV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? …

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

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Reflect

During my mom’s earthly life, she would always say, “Thank God for Jesus!” As she reflected upon who Jesus is, Mom praised God for sending Jesus, who paid her sin-debt.

The person of Jesus the Christ is pivotal to our faith and to our victorious living. No one nor anything else serves as the centerpiece of our Christian faith. Everything about the way we live out our lives in the present is influenced by our faith in Jesus, who is our example. Our relationship with Jesus impacts what we commit to do as well as what we seek to avoid.

Everything about our hope for the future, whether for tomorrow or for all eternity, is hinged on our trust in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Eternal life is connected with our acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. It is through Jesus that we are reconciled to God and to one another.

So, I join my mom in saying, “Thank God for Jesus!”

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Pray

God of grace and mercy, we love you because you first loved us. Such a marvelous love that looks beyond our faults and responds to our needs. In the matchless mighty and magnificent name of Jesus, Amen.

Go with God.