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Panel 1 of 9 on the Beatitudes tapestry currently being worked:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit….”

Monday

Matthew 5.1 “Now when he saw the crowds he went up on the mountainside and sat down.”

Geography and landscape matter in the spiritual life! The blessed person who delights in the law of the Lord is like a tree standing by a river, streams flowing in the desert are God’s signals of hope and new beginnings, and we know about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and an unforgettable meeting with the risen Lord. Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down, the position of the teacher, in a place where every Jew heard echoes of Sinai. What Jesus says has the authority of God. I’m wondering how many understand that when claiming to follow him, yet ignoring much of his teaching – especially the Sermon on the Mount, the manifesto of the Kingdom of God, the set text and playbook of every faithful follower of Jesus.

Tuesday

Matthew 5.2 “His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…”

If geography matters, so does movement and choosing our location. Drawn by the Spirit, and drawn by the magnetism of Jesus’ love, wisdom, and that unmistakable but hard to explain prophetic edge to his voice -they came, and we come, to be taught. Jesus said, “Come to me all who are toiling…take my yoke…learn of me…” That’s the relationship of disciple to Jesus. He is our teacher, we are in his presence to listen and learn, to be guided towards righteousness and loving service to Him. 

Wednesday

Matthew 5.3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Kingdom of heaven is now and not yet. Those who know they aren’t self-sufficient also know that God is the source of life and light. Jesus is describing those who at the end of all earthly resources, reach upwards in trustful faith to the Father of mercies and find Him to be faithful. That is to live under the reign of God now. God’s will is not done on earth as it is in heave, not yet. But the promise at the centre of our faith in Jesus Christ is that in God’s good time, his Kingdom will come. Those first lines of the Lord’s Prayer are not pious optimism – they are urgent anticipation.

Thursday

Matthew 5.4 “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Yes, it’s a hard one to take. Those who have lived with grief know it as a deep and lasting ache of loss. Mourning takes many forms, and has multiple effects on our emotional capacity, physical stamina, mental health and yes, spiritual stability. Jesus does not say, you’ll get over it. He says those who know deepest loss will be comforted, touched by grace, followed by goodness and mercy, strengthened in ways that don’t need to be understood to be real. Like all the Beatitudes, this is a promise, but it is not a get-out clause. There are sorrows too deep to ignore, but there is also grace sufficient, peace beyond our understanding, and the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The comfort of the Comforter.

Friday

Matthew 5. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”    

 Again, by the standards of our everyday world it seems unlikely. The good stuff seems to belong to the rich, the go-getters, the self-starter, the highly motivated achiever always alert for personal advantages. Meekness is not a word you would use in a job interview. But then again. The word Jesus uses is about strength held under control, underlying patience and courage, the ability to realise that our role is not to save the world, or gain the world for ourselves, but to be the salt of the earth.

Saturday

Matthew 5.6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Righteousness is when things are made right, people act rightly, and things are right between us and all those who share our lives in family, work or wherever. Justice likewise is about the rightness of things, and noticing when things are wrong, and caring enough to want it to be right. Words like empathy, kindness, activism, protest, social compassion – they are symptoms of hunger and thirst for righteousness, and such hearts are already blessed – and will be fully satisfied come the Kingdom of God. Yes, that spiritual longing towards the rightness of our own hearts has its place – but the test of such longing is the push outwards in the practice of neighbour love.

Sunday

Matthew 5.7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Mercy. Merciful. The words are now old fashioned, rarely used, and as a life-giving quality in human relationships its near absence as a norm of human behaviour is a symptom of a society with a heart problem. Mercy is part forgiveness, part compassion, and part wisdom. To forgive is to forgo our right to ‘give as good as we get’, and to offer friendship rather than resentment. Compassion is the habit of taking time to understand, sensing the emotional moment of another person’s hurt, and finding ways to make life less difficult for them. Wisdom is knowing that to show mercy is the offer of healing instead of further wounds, and to accept our own role as ‘ministers of reconciliation. Mercy has reproductive power in human life.

Window in Crown Terrace Baptist Church, Aberdeen

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

During the time I have been working on the tapestry of the Beatitudes, Panel 8 based on the words above, several times I have met with two Iranian Christians for baptismal preparation classes. Each told their story of having been targeted as Christians and being forced to flee the land they call home. Prison, beating, threats to family, ostracism, loss of their career and livelihood (one had his own business) – persecution is not mere inconvenience, or ridicule, or indifference, usually the worst we might expect in Scotland. These men are describing the real thing, the actual bottom line cost and consequence of following Jesus for each of these men and their families. There are tears in the telling of those stories – and in the hearing of them..

Using translation software they told their story, confessed their faith, spoke of what Jesus means to them, how they have found hope and love amongst Christians across Europe. I guess I never expected working a tapestry to take on such deep existential significance as in hearing first hand accounts of exactly what Jesus was speaking about.

And what’s more, in the ninth Beatitude panel, which isn’t started yet, Jesus is much more explicit about what it means to be a Christian in a hostile environment.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

That phrase, “Because of me”. The ring of truth and experience is unmistakable in their love and devotion to Jesus, and their confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

In the light of such experience of persecution, shared in prayer and fellowship, their recent baptismal confession brought moments of solemn joy, and of faith deepened and intensified by love to all of us who witnessed their baptism, and rejoiced with them as brothers in the Body of Christ.

“Let us with a gladsome mind,

praise the Lord for He is kind

For his mercies aye endure,

ever faithful ever sure.”

That first line is a lovely paraphrase of Psalm 136.1: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” We live in anxious times in a world less predictable every day. Those words give us an alternative to doom-scrolling through the relentless flow of information that simply feeds our fears and fuels our anger. Instead, let us with a gladsome mind, praise the Lord, for he is kind. Sure, the world seems much less safe, and we feel a lot less secure. But, as Psalm 136 says 28 times – “His love endures forever.” A gladsome mind is a determined refusal to despair by looking for reasons to praise the kindness of God, give thanks for his mercies, and trust the love that endures forever.

Tuesday

Psalm 31.7 “I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction, and knew the anguish of my soul.”

Gladness is not a denial of all that’s wrong in the world. When we are distressed by the scale of human suffering across the world, or when we ourselves are going through difficult times and ‘anguish of soul’, gladness doesn’t seem like a realistic option. But the Psalm poet is not wrong. In those very times of sorrow, anxiety, and perplexity that come to all of us, a gladsome mind turns to the one reliable source of light and life – the God whose love endures forever. To rejoice in the love of God is not to ignore a suffering world, or pretend our own difficulties don’t matter. It is to take hold again of the love of God in Christ and remember Christ is risen, and nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God! To rejoice in God’s love is faith singing and refusing to be silenced!   

Wednesday

Psalm 92.4 “You make me glad by your deeds, O Lord, I sing for joy at the work of your hands.”

This is still a wonderful world, the Creator’s masterpiece gifted to us. The birds we feed, the technology we use, the glory of sunset. Be glad about beauty and the fruitfulness of God’s creation and human labour. If I ask when I have been glad recently I think of geese honking their song of arrival at Loch Skene; or a recent meal with old friends when I said an additional Grace at the miracle of Cranachan Crème Brûlée! A gladsome mind is more than an injection of positivity; it is a mind alert to the goodness of God around us, and a heart accustomed to thankfulness.

Thursday

Psalm 97.1 “The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad.”

At a time when even the best world leaders struggle with complex problems and life or death decisions, the Lord God reigns, and his purposes will be fulfilled. Don’t know about you, but when I watch the news I’m glad of those words, “the Lord reigns”, and that this is still a God-loved world. A gladsome mind doesn’t give in to cynicism as if hope for justice, peace and care of creation was hopeless refusal to face reality. The gladsome mind of the Christian is sustained by a faith that lives out the conviction: The Lord reigns! Christ is risen! Jesus is Lord!

Friday

Psalm 118.24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

So there it is. You wake up, you’re still here, the gift of another day. Time is God’s gift, not to be wasted in morose wishing it could be otherwise, but to be enjoyed and lived gratefully, creatively, and yes, gladly. Here is a prayer worth making a daily habit: “May we accept this day at your hand, O Lord, as a gift to be treasured, a life to be enjoyed, a trust to be kept, and a hope to be fulfilled; and all for your glory.

Saturday

Psalm 65.12 “The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.”

Take time to read verses 9-13 of Psalm 65. This is the Psalm poet having a good day, and looking out at a world touched by the life-giving creativity of God. Hills clothed with gladness! Really? Yes, and lush grass in the desert. A gladsome mind never forgets that the world belongs to God, despite all its brokenness and our sinful human propensity to waste, and spoil it. And yes, that means our obligation to care for creation, be actively concerned for our environment, and committed to justice for others affected by climate change. A gladsome mind is never careless of God’s gift of life, nor of the place where we live out that life.  “All things living He doth feed; His full hand supplies their need: for His mercies shall endure, ever faithful, ever sure.” Indeed

Sunday

Acts 2.46-47 “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people“

From the very beginning gladness has been one of the audible and visible features of Christian worship, fellowship and prayer. A gladsome mind is not self-generated. It is the heart’s response to the goodness of God. It is the inner reality of being in Christ and Christ in us, the hope of glory. Gladness is joy expressed in worship, love experienced in fellowship, and hope a firm expectation based on our resurrection faith. In other words, gladness arises from the settled conviction that Jesus is Lord!

Love bade Me Welcome. Drawing Nearer to God with the Poems of George Herbert. Suzanne McDonald. (Cascade: Eugene, Oregon, 2026)

Thirty years ago Suzanne McDonald came to faith through reading the poetry of George Herbert. Now an accomplished theologian with a particular focus on Reformed theology, she is also steeped in the history, literature and thought of the 17^th Century.

She has written this book on Herbert’s poetry with the primary intention of introducing others to the riches and rewards that come from spending time in the company of George Herbert. Love Bade Me Welcome is intended as a devotional book, offering informed reflection and guided study of 52 poems. It is more substantial in its structure and content than several other recent introductory books on Herbert’s poetry.

The book is carefully structured to facilitate reflective reading of the poems. Each poem is placed in the context of The Temple, with accompanying commentary and reflection bringing out the spiritual theology woven through the verse. There are footnotes but only where further explanation is necessary to follow the poet’s point or clarify obscure terminology. In each chapter there are recurring invitations to the reader to dwell on personal and theological questions suggested by the poem, then to bring each poem into conversation with a chosen Bible passage, and finishing with a prayer and a reminder ‘Going Forward’ to be attentive to and live into what has been learned.

The result is a book that is offered as a companion on a slow meditative journey through the year, nourished and guided by a poem each week. George Herbert’s poems deserve such thoughtful slowness and repeated reading, especially in the company of an author who is expert on the literature and the period, and who has been a long-time close reader and spiritual student of “the beloved poet.” The book is intended to be both informative and formative.

Those familiar with George Herbert’s Temple will have their favourites, and I am no exception. Choices for inclusion are always tricky, especially from a collection so carefully curated by the original author, and in which each poem is freighted with multiple interpretive possibilities, both inter-textually and intra-textually. For myself I would not have omitted any of those that are here included; and though a case can be made for further inclusions, the 52 week structure is a self-imposed discipline that is both practical and in my view, successful. And all of my personal Herbert favourites are included, so that’s all right then!

Perhaps one example might illustrate further the value of McDonald’s approach for those seeking to go deeper into Herbert’s poetry. And for newcomers, the book is an invitation to dive in and swim in the powerful currents of Seventeenth Century devotional poetry.

The challenge for any scholar seeking to probe and explore Herbert’s poems is how to deal with Love III, a poem many consider Herbert’s masterpiece, and which provides the title of the book. By this test, the book is confirmed as a reliable, perceptive and experientially accurate account of what Herbert himself called “the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom…”

Love III is the last poem in Herbert’s Temple, and the last to be considered in this book. The ‘Reflection’ section shows a sympathetic understanding of the psychology and spiritual experience of Herbert’s pendulum swings between desolation and assurance, shame and acceptance, guilt and forgiveness. This is where McDonald’s long personal journey with Herbert shows. She has been a deep listener and an attentive reader, not only to the poems, but to the heart of the poet. The ‘Scripture’ suggested as the conversation partner with the poem is itself a condensed argument about love as both imperative and initiative, bristling with the relational tensions and constant resolutions of love at its most powerful as motive and reward. (1 John 4.16-19) The concluding ‘Prayer’ uses familiar words by way of a personal invitation to the communion table, and therefore to communion with the One who ‘bids us welcome’.

As a book to be used weekly throughout the year in a way that is leisurely but intentional, and without being desultory, it is attractively produced, with clear readable sized font, and a well-planned layout. It is a generous larger format paperback (15cmx23cm), so the pages are not overcrowded with text. It will wear well with constant use – and there are lots of white spaces for personal annotations.

The book is deliberately accessible, but is supported within a strong theological framework of the spiritual life, and showing easy familiarity with current literature on Herbert. The whole project expresses the writer’s love for the subject, both poet and poems. I would be confident this well-conceived book will successfully fulfil the aim in the subtitle, of enabling the reader to “Draw Nearer to God with the Poems of George Herbert.”

View of Bennachie, Aberdeenshire

Monday

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation,

O my soul praise him for he is thy health and salvation

The first lines of a hymn usually set the tone for all that follows. This is one of the great hymns of praise that immediately lifts our eyes beyond our preoccupation with ‘me’ to the one we call Lord, whose might is uncontested, and who is the Creator of all that is – including the me who is singing this. Praise is the outward expression of gratitude and gladness. “He is thy health and salvation” is an all-inclusive phrase that speaks of our wellbeing, our reverent ease in God’s presence because in mercy and grace we are made welcome in Christ. Praise is an act of self-forgetfulness, the mind turning to God, and the heart inclined towards God and ready to sing.

St Nicholas Kirk in May, Aberdeen

Tuesday

O worship the King, all glorious above;

O gratefully sing His power and His love.

There it is again – worship and gratitude as response to God’s power and love. If we’re ever in need of persuasion to go to church, one of the best arguments is that we want to avoid becoming serially ungrateful! When Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit” he was describing the person who knows they are not self-sustaining, that life is gift and we depend on God every blessed minute of our lives. We gratefully sing of God’s power and love, because that power has saved us and upholds us; that love surrounds us and renews us in Christ, and so we are not about to take God for granted. Grace and gratitude merge into praise when we come to worship.

Wednesday

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,

Bow down before him, his glory proclaim

You could spend an entire day pondering that phrase ‘the beauty of holiness’. Holiness is one of the most essential words in the Christian’s vocabulary. Think of words like wonder, awe, splendour, purity; or phrases like unapproachable light, or dazzling darkness. This hymn is a needed reminder that God is not our pal, and that over-familiarity is not the same as reverent intimacy. In worship we don’t stand before God like fans at a rock concert lost in the experience. ‘Bow down before him’ is an altogether different approach. Indeed that’s what it is, an approach in reverent humility and grateful love to the One who is beautiful in holiness.

Findochty Church from path to Portknockie

Thursday

All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;

Him serve with mirth his praise forth tell, come ye before him and rejoice.

Three words that should characterise Christian worship – cheerful, mirth and rejoicing. The Psalm goes on to give all the reasons for such joy-filled praise. God made us, we belong to God, and every day of our lives we are under God’s care. I love the old Scots way of speaking: “For why? The Lord our God is good; His mercy is for ever sure…” More than one famous preacher has said a miserable Christian is a contradiction in terms. That’s unfair – we all go through times of real struggle when joy feels impossible. But that’s precisely why being with God’s people singing of the goodness of God is so vital – literally revitalising. Praise is faith in defiant mood!

Friday

Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here;

Come bow before Him now, with reverence and fear

“Be still and know that I am God.” That command is intended to silence the busyness of our mind; it’s a call to stop doom-scrolling and pay attention to the presence of God. Here. Now. Wherever we are, at whatever time, no matter the circumstance, the Holy One is here. Jesus promised to be with his disciples always, to the end of the age and to the ends of the earth. When we come to worship, in church or wherever, we don’t come into the presence of God. We stop what we are doing and acknowledge the presence of the Holy One. For myself, it’s too easy to forget the ever-present God, there wherever I am, in grace, in love, in mercy and in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

St Cuthbert’s Cross. (completed 2025)

Saturday

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Someone once defined evangelical spirituality as “early rising, prayer and Bible study”! Allowing for all our different lifestyles and circumstances not everyone can manage the early rising bit. But the hymn is encouraging our first thoughts, ‘early in the morning’, before the day gets going, to make time to give God his place and his time in our lives. If not now and early, then later before the day closes. Worship is a discipline, and many of our most valuable skills and relationships depend on our faithfulness in practicing and investing time and effort in the things that matter most to us. That’s as true of the piano, a golf swing, driving the car, and maintaining our friendships. And it is true of worship – we do it for God. Intentional faithfulness, investment of ourselves in what matters, and what matters most – love for God.

Cross, Iona Abbey, May 2025

Sunday

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art

The vision of Isaiah, the Lord high and lifted up, his glory filling the temple; the vision of the exalted Christ, risen and seated at the right hand of God. Vision is not only about seeing; it is also about adoration, wonder and yes, worship. The vision of God in Christ revealed to believing hearts by the Holy Spirit, is the centre and focus of worship. Not me. Not my feelings. Not me enjoying the experience of worship. But that outward reach of praise, gratitude, wonder and love. Wesley’s phrase describes well this deliberately selfless worship as “lost in wonder, love and praise.” So, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” (Ps. 95.6)    

Monday

1 John 5.13 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Eternal life for John is both the promise of the future and the present reality. New birth, new creation, walking in the light, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit that we are indeed children of God, perfect love casting out fear. These are some of the ways John brings strong assurance of sin forgiven and a heart cleansed and turned to God in Christ. The name of the Son of God is Saviour, Advocate, One who is the very presence of God in and amongst the community of believers.

Tuesday

1 John 5.14-15 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

It sounds as if “according to his will” is a get-out clause, explaining prayers that god unanswered in the way we had hoped and asked. But in the Lord’s Prayer hallowing God’s name is followed by “Thy will be done”. We can have confidence that God hears our prayer, but we also have confidence in the wise love of God and therefore yield to his will. In Gethsemane, faced with the cross and praying such suffering might be avoided, Jesus prayed, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” There are times when we cannot know what we ask – but God does, and God is love!

Wednesday

1 John 5.16 “If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death.”

John said at the very start, “If anyone does sin we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ the Righteous One.” There are no sinless Christians. But no Christian sins as if it didn’t matter, because the Christian life is lived under the Cross. Sin that does not lead to death is sin of which we repent, knowing the cost and consequences of sin, and having experienced the love of God in Christ “as the atoning sacrifice for our sins”. So when we know of someone’s sin we pray for them that they will know again the cleansing and forgiveness of God.

Thursday

1 John 5.16-17 “There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”

The problem here is it seems John is saying there are two grades of sin. But John is clear – all wrongdoing is sin. When he speaks of the sin that leads to death he is revisiting much that he wrote earlier. There are sins that are incompatible with being a child of God. These include denial that Jesus is the Son of God, refusal to obey God’s commands, hatred of brothers and sisters, and love of the world. These are sins that contradict any claim to love God, because they are deliberate attitudes and actions that deny the truth of God as revealed in his Son, our Saviour. Such a set of the heart is incompatible with the love, trust and confidence of the child of God.

Friday

1 John 5.18 “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”

To continue in sin is exactly what John means by sin leading to death. Those truly born of God are kept safe by God from such blatant couldn’t-care-less disobedience. The Spirit within, the love of God dwelling and remaining in the heart, the grace that keeps the child of God walking in the light, the prayers and love of Christian for Christian – these and that central truth of John: “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they live in God.” (1 John 4.15)

Saturday

1 John 5.19-20a “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.”

This is another way of saying “He that is in us is greater than he that is I the world.” The victory over sin, death and the devil is already won on the cross and through the resurrection. Apostle John, shrewd pastor that he is, looks the small community of faithful believers in the eye and says the one thing they need to hear: “We know that we are children of God.” His whole letter has been leading up to that established truth of the heart. We know! With that secure, everything else can be understood and lived through, even in a world set in opposition to God.  To know him who is true, and to know that we are children of God – that is the Christian’s assurance.

Sunday

1 John 5.20b-21 “And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Christian assurance is not only what we know. It is also about who we are and where we are. We are in Him who is true, and He is in us. We are held within the eternal life and love of God through his Son Jesus Christ by the Spirit who lives in us. Our identity is embedded in the eternal purposes of God who is the true God, of Light and Love.

If ever a word more needed to be heard by a fractured world, then this is it.

If ever a word is being so cynically ignored by those with the power to make peace, but choose war as the way to assert power, this is it.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5.9)

Working on Panel 6 of the Beatitudes tapestry. But actually, this verse sits at the precise centre of how I see Christian witness being practiced.

This inludes but is not limited to:

an inner hospitality of the mind to others’ ways of seeing the world,

a conscience alert to injustice,

conciliation as the modus operandi of the words we speak,

careful stewardship of our money to enable and encourage the common good,

not acts of random kindness but acts of intentional, strategic habits of kindness,

an enacted hopefulness by caring about what happens to people and looking for ways to turn such care into a different reality for them.

And so on.

And on.

Monday

1 John 5.4-5 “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Remember what John said earlier? “He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.” By believing in Jesus, the Son of God and the Saviour we can overcome sin and all the forces and cultural pressures of the world. The Spirit of God within and the life giving presence of the risen Christ are the counter-balance. God’s love for us, and our love for God, creates ‘the expulsive power of an opposite affection. Through the Holy Spirit, the assurance of God’s love in Christ gives the believing heart power to withstand and overcome temptation, sin, and the world’s best strategies.

Tuesday

1 John 5.6 “This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” 

In John’s time some people claiming to be Christians denied that the Son of God really died. John recalls two defining moments in Jesus’ life – his baptism by water and his death on the cross. Both events demonstrated the love of God and the holiness of God – both were times when Jesus the Son of God encountered sin in its full force, and on our behalf overcame sin and death once and for all. This we know because, as Paul also explained, “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”   

Wednesday

1 John 5.7-8 “For there are three that testify:the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” 

The three that testify are in agreement. In any court seeking to get at the truth, three witnesses corroborating each other’s testimony is powerful evidence. In John’s Gospel and Letter he explains that it is the Spirit who takes the things of Jesus and spells them out to believing hearts. The Spirit tells us we are children of God; Jesus in his baptism (in water) ‘fulfilled all righteousness”; and in his death (the blood) the Spirit gives the assurance that the final reality in the universe is God’s sin-bearing, pardoning love. Or again as Paul says, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.”  Three witnesses – the Spirit, the water, the blood.   

Thursday

1 John 5.9 “We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.” 

This is John once again hammering home a truth that matters so much he is determined to leave no room for misunderstanding. If you believe in God, then you will believe what God says; God is light and in him is no darkness at all. John is recalling how at his baptism in water, the voice from heaven said “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” If God said it, and God is final truth, then God’s testimony outweighs any other testimony. The inner witness of the Spirit is God repeating in the believer’s heart this truth – Jesus is God’s Son, our Saviour and Lord.

Friday

1 John 5.10 “Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.”

Coming near the end of his letter John is determined to win the argument. The stakes are at their highest when it is God who is contradicted! The testimony of God is when the truth of who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done for us, is brought home to our hearts, and made clear to our minds. This is the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit, who is the source of all true blessed assurance – “heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. This is MY story, this is my song!”

Saturday

1 John 5.11 “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

The question of whether Jesus is the Son of God is not just a theological argument. The truth of Jesus as God’s Son who bears the sins of the world, who died and rose again, through whom God’s holy love is revealed, is itself a matter of life and death. Eternal life is the life of God in the soul, and the promise of eternal life with God in the eternal life of joy and praise and worship and service that is our future in God. Eternal life is the gift of God, the fulfilment of God’s creative love that first called us into being and into the life of the Triune God through Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Sunday

1 John 5.12 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

John doesn’t do compromise! When the stakes are this high it becomes an either – or choice. You cannot call God Father unless you call Jesus the Son of God, for God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one can come to the Father except through me.” This is the conclusion of John’s case as advocate for the truth that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. To grasp this truth, and take it to heart, and walk in the light of Christ – this is life!

Monday

1 John 4. 18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Love thrives on trust, and withers in an atmosphere of fear. John is a clear-headed psychologist as well as a pastor who understands the nature of God’s transforming love. Where there is mutual love there must be an equal presence of trust. When the love of God is made perfect and brought to completion in us through Christ, then the relationship between God and ourselves is one of trusting faith and answering love. Fear has no place there, just as punishment is no longer a reality for the forgiven.

Tuesday

1 John 4.19 “We love because he first loved us.”

Like the good teacher he is, John ties what he says now, to what he has said earlier. Important information bears repeating for emphasis – “This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (v10) In one brief sentence John sums up the energy source of Christian devotion. We love because we are inexplicably, unfailingly loved by God, without calculation or prior conditions – “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” Love is the present reality within which every Christian is called to live. To know the love of God in our heart is to be transformed into an agent for whom love is the motive of faith.

Wednesday

1 John 4. 20 “If anyone says ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

Sometimes the truth cannot be made palatable for diplomatic reasons! Loving others is not just a helpful suggestion, it is a divine imperative. Yes loving others is a choice we make, but it is in response to God’s command. Love for others is not ‘second nature’ for Christians, it is the natural outflow of the new nature in Christ. John’s logic is frank and uncompromising. If you can’t love the brother who is visibly present here and now, then you don’t love God whom you say you believe in. A refusal to act in love towards a brother or sister contradicts any claim that we love and obey God.

Thursday    

1 John 4.21 “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”   

A command is non-negotiable. It can’t be ignored, or reduced, or made less inconvenient. A command has the underlying authority of the One who gives it, in this case God. The keyword in the command is the word ‘also’. John forges an unbreakable link between love for God and love for others. Every command carries with it a demand. I have friend who uses the word ‘huvtae’: a good day is when there are no huvtaes. She is referring to things we have to do. Well, for Christians who are loved by God, and say we love God in response, loving others is a ‘huvtae”!      

Friday

1 John 5.1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.”

The child displays the characteristics of the father so that there is both a similarity and a continuity between the generations. John is arguing that if you love the father, then you will love the child who is the continuing identity of her parents. Family likeness should mean a mutual recognition of belonging to the same family. The family likeness of Christians is our belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Saviour. Since Jesus is God’s Son, and we are born of God, we are family who love the same God and love each other as brothers and sisters and as God’s children.

Saturday

1 John 5.2 “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.”   

John is remembering the words of Jesus in the Gospel and those words are probably the best commentary on what John has been saying all through chapter 4: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Loving our brothers and sisters, loving Jesus, knowing the love of God, loving our neighbour, yes, loving even our enemies: who can do all this? We can. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”  And hold firmly to this promised reality: “Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given to us.” (Romans 5.5)

Sunday

1 John 5.3b “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome….”

John means that loving others as our way of showing our love for God, is not beyond our abilities and strength. Jesus said to all who come to him that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Paul’s way of saying that might be, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We obey because we love, and that love which is our deepest response is sustained by God’s indwelling love. It is one of the miracles of God’s grace that he kindles in us the very love we offer back in worship and service.  

Monday

1 John 4.11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Once again, John’s unbreakable logic. Since we are loved by God beyond any measure we can calculate, love then becomes our defining response to others. We love as we have been loved; we forgive as those who have been forgiven; as recipients of God’s grace we become agents and witnesses of that same grace. “Inscribed upon the cross we see, in shining letters ‘God is love.’” God’s love never leaves us as God found us- we love others because God first loved us,  

Tuesday

1 John 4.12.”No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.”

Read that again! God is not seen through the mystical experiences of the super-spiritual. God’s presence is made obvious through the interchange of love amongst those who have come to know the love of God in their own transformed lives. God’s love is made complete, comes full circle, when it is reproduced in the communities of Christ. In other words, loving one another as God loves us is not optional, it is the natural outcome of God’s love reaching out in generous kindness, gestures of peace, efforts to understand, and care for the fabric and health of the community of Christ.

Wednesday

1 John4.13-14 “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son too be the Saviour of the world.”

As Paul said, “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” John is a skilled advocate gathering the evidence that reassures his community of believers. The Spirit is the living evidence of God at work in our lives as individuals, growing and establishing the faith of this fellowship of believers in Jesus. What is more, the Spirit is the living testimony of the love of the Father in sending the Son, and of the love of the Son who has come as the atoning sacrifice for sin and as the Saviour of the world. That’s how “We know that we live in him and he in us.”

Thursday

1 John 4.15 “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.”

In John’s time there were those who denied that Jesus was truly and fully the Son of God. Since earliest days, the confirming evidence of being a Christian is a public confession of Jesus as Son of God, crucified Saviour and risen Lord. John keeps coming back to the spiritual reality that God lives in the new life of the believer and they live in God. God is the sphere of life in which we live, and God is the source of life which enables us to walk in the light and to live in the love of God. The Christian community is an energy hub of the love of God lived out in practice.

Friday

1 John 4.16a “And so we know and rely on the love of God for us.”

 It was once said of R. W. Dale, a famous preacher in Birmingham, that he hammered his points home so forcefully he was in danger of splitting the wood! John does go on, and on, about how we know the love of God. But it is the repetition of emphasis, and the force of a spiritual argument intended to reassure. Apostle John is a pastor, building up and encouraging believers who had started to doubt the truth of God’s love, and the lived reality of salvation through Jesus’ death. He want them to rely on the love of God, to depend for dear life on the truth that whatever else is real, God’s love is the ultimate reality, and the foundation of everything else.

Saturday

1 John 4.16b “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

Just in case you’ve not have been paying attention, here is the whole argument in summary! John’s letter has sometimes been compared to a spiral, he keeps coming back to things he has said before. But he has his reasons. He wants to make clear, one and for all, that Christian assurance rests not on how we feel, but on the fundamental truth of who God is. God is love. God is light. God is Spirit. The presence and work of the Spirit in our lives is confirmed by mutual love, faith in Jesus as Saviour, walking in the light, and knowing we have an advocate with the Father.

Sunday

1 John 4.17 “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.” 

Love is made complete when the love of God comes full circle and comes to full expression through the work of the Spirit in our lives. Confidence before God is based entirely on God’s work within us by the Spirit, applying to our hearts and minds the truth of Jesus as Saviour and Advocate. John is giving a threefold proof that we are indeed children of God: possession of the Spirit, confession of Jesus as Son of God, and living in the love of God. That’s a threefold cord not easily broken!