UNCONDITIONAL: COMPETING

We continue our series Unconditional with the sermon Competing.  Why is loving someone as Jesus loved us so difficult?  It seems that with all of our progress in modern society we would not struggle to love each other.  Yet, as we look at our world, anger and hatred seem to be stronger than ever.  In 1 John 2:9-17, John the Apostle is writing to the early Christians about the competing forces that lead us away from loving others more fully.  Hatred of a brother, sister or neighbor is a blinding darkness that will lead us to a pit!  What will help us find the light?  These verses from 1 John help us to find the strong light of unconditional love.  John guides us to shed the darkness of hatred and walk in the path of Jesus.  As you read 1 John 2:9-17 may you sense the darkness passing way and the light of God’s love flooding your heart.  1 John 2:9-17: Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world– the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life– comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (NIV)