When We Choose to Stay

Day 336: 1 John 2:18-29, 3:1-6

“These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.” - 1 John 2:19 NLT

If we could sum up both of our readings in 1 John today in two words, it would be: Family stays.

John uses a Greek word here that seems to be one of His favorites. It is meno, which is translated as remain, stay, or abide. Jesus clearly loved using the word to describe what His family was to be like.

For example, Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains (meno) forever." - John 8:34-35

The Gospel (good news) of Jesus didn't need to be improved upon in the first century, and the same goes for the twenty-first century. The Apostle Paul spoke volumes when he wrote, "the summing up of all things in Christ." (Ephesians 1:10, NASB)

Our problems will not be resolved by us suddenly becoming clever or inventive when it comes to faith. We will only find what we are looking for when we stop and decide to remain in the loving care of our resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

"The renegade and apostate was all along only nominally a Christian. Of the true Christian the declaration remains true, 'No one snatcheth them out of his hand.'” (see John 10:28) - Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. (1909). 1 John (p. 27)