1 John

Unit 1 Choice 4

1 John 1:1-4

From these verses we learn that John has a desire for everyone to know what he knows.  He wants to share the gospel with others so that their joy may be full.  We should all have this same motivation to share the gospel with everyone that we know.

The following are additional scriptures that help us understand:

1 John 1:8-10 - in order to have fellowship with the Lord, we have to be clean.  These verses tell us that if we say we have not sinned, that we are lying and cannot be clean.  If we confess our sins and repent, He will forgive us and completely cleanse us.

1 John 2:3-6 - There are people in the world who say they are followers of Jesus Christ, yet they don't keep his commandments.  John teaches us that if we are truly His followers, we will keep the commandments and follow His ways.  When we do this we are also showing our love for Him.

1 John 2:9-11 - John teaches us about loving other people and uses light to teach that message.  If we do not care for others, it is as if we are in the darkness and can't find our way.  If we do help others we will be walking in the light and can see where we are going.  The true source of all light is Jesus Christ and so when we walk in the light we are walking in His ways.

1 John 3:11-19 - John compares lack of compassion for others to murder in these verses.  Most of us probably would not murder someone but if we do not have charity and help others it is as if we are murdering.  The Savior was willing to die for us and we need to be willing to lay down our lives for our brothers.  We won't actually have to die for them but we could offer them things much easier to give.

1 John 1:15-17 - We need to be sure that we do not love the things of the world more than the Lord.  The things of the world will be gone but the Lord is everlasting and so are His ways.  We need to remember that and not lust after the things of the world.

1 John 2: 20-21, 27 - They use the word "unction" in this verse and that means an anointing.   John is teaching that the people have repented, been baptized and given the gift of the Holy Ghost.  He teaches that they can be taught by the Holy Ghost and that the Holy Ghost teaches them truth.

1 John 3: 4-6 - These verses teach us about sin and that the Savior suffered for our sins.  He went through so much so that we could repent.  So when we sin, we need to use the Atonement and repent of those sins.

One of these principles that I want to be better at is the one in 1 John 2:3-6.  I want to be better at aligning my actions with the Lord's example. There is nothing really big that I need to change but there are a lot of small things that I need to improve on.