And This Is Love: That We Walk in Obedience to His Commands

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HOSEA 4:1-5:15 | 2 JOHN 1:1-13 | PSALM 125:1-5 | PROVERBS 29:9-11

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Hosea has the unenviable task of bringing charges against the people of Israel.  And the even more unenviable task of telling them that judgement that was coming to them. 

I wonder what the people who first heard him thought about that — perhaps they thought of him as that eccentric old man who has a harlot for a wife and goes about telling us that doom and destruction are going to come upon us if we don’t turn from our evil ways… 

But then again, there might have been others who might have stopped to listen and perhaps wonder if there might be any truth to the charges.

Our warnings and pleas to turn from our evil ways come to us in various forms, sometimes even from the most unusual or unexpected sources.  Could it be that we are dismissing prophets and angels unawares?

Turning next to our reading in the New Testament, we embark upon the second letter of John, commonly known as Second John.  This is certainly one of the shortest letters, and while the recipient is a “lady” the debate over who this might be ranges from the church itself to a lady in the congregation, and even to Mary, Jesus’ mother, and mother of Jesus’ half-brothers, James and Jude who did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah until after the resurrection.

In this letter, John continues in his exhortations to love one another.  He says: 

⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. ⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. ⁶ And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

I would have liked to have met John. His closing line brings a smile to my face. That is sometimes exactly how I feel about some people… I’d rather meet them in person so that my “joy may be complete“. 

He says:  I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.  

Next, we turn to our reading of the Psalms, and find David’s opening lines from this psalm are comforting to everyone who views himself as a child of God:

¹ Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
   which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
   so the LORD surrounds his people
   both now and forevermore.

Finally, a few verses from the book of Proverbs, in which Solomon, wise king of Israel, is offering food for thought:

⁹ If a wise person goes to court with a fool,
   the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.

¹⁰ The bloodthirsty hate a person of integrity
   and seek to kill the upright.

¹¹ Fools give full vent to their rage,
   but the wise bring calm in the end.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.  Amen.