Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

June 4
Thursday


THE CIRCLE
OF FEAR

READ:
1 John 2:1-11
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If anyone sins, we have
and Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. __1 John 2:1
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When the popular band The Eagles prepares a new song for concert, they sit in a circle with acoustic guitars and unamplified voices and rehearse their intricate vocals. They call this exercise "The circle of Fear" because there is no place to hide and no way to conceal any errors they might make in the harmonies. That sense of absolute exposure for their mistakes is what makes this drill so frightening to them.

Apart from Christ, we would suffer a far worse kind of exposure before the God of all justice. If we had no advocate and no escape, we would also have no hope. But in Christ, the believer has a Defender who stands before the Father on our behalf. First John 2:1 says, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." With our failings exposed, He takes our defense. Our Defender carries our relationship with God beyond a "circle of fear" to a fellowship of grace and truth.

Our challenge is to live lives of purity and integrity that honor our heavenly Father. yet, when we do fail, we do not need to fear abandonment or ridicule from our Father. We have an Advocate who will carry us through. _Bill Crowder
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``````````````Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,``````````````
``````````````In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.`````````````
````````````Thy mercies how tender! How firm to the end!``````````
````````Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. __Grant````````
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The One who died as our Substitute
now lives as our Advocate.

****************Today's Bible Reading __ 1 John 2:1-11***********

1 My little children, these
things I write to you, so that
you may not sin. And if
anyone sins, we have an
Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous.

2 And He Himself is the
propitiation for our sins, and
not for ours only but also for
the whole world.

3 Now by this we know that
we know Him, if we keep
his commandments. 4 He
who says, "I know Him,"
and does not keep His
commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. 5 But
whoever keeps His Word,
truly the love of God is
perfected in him. By this we
know that we are in Him.

6 He who says he abides in
him ought himself also to
walk just as He walked.

7 Brethren, I write no new
commandment to you, but an
old commandment which
you have had from the
beginning. The old
commandment is the word
which you heard from the
beginning. 8 Again, a new
commandment I write to
you, which thing is true in
Him and in you, because the
darkness is passing away,
and the true light is already
shining.

9 He who says he is in the
light, and hates his brother,
is in darkness until now.

10 He who loves his brother
abides in the light, and there
is no cause for stumbling in
him. 11 But he who hates his
brother is in darkness and
walks in darkness, and does
not know where he is going,
because the darkness has
blinded his eyes.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

After describing the role of our great Advocate (vv.1-2), John returns
to a theme from chapter 1: light versus darkness. This was a favorite
theme of John's and is also evident in his gospel record (see John
1:4-10; 3:19; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46), __Bill Crowder