Reading for December 4th is 1 John 4... My thoughts on this reading... This is an important chapter, especially the first couple verses when it comes to being able to know if something is from God or not. John tells us that we should test the spirits and then explains how we are to do this. Essentially, it something doesn't confess Christ, it is not of the Spirit. Anything that would lead away from Christ or that doesn't proclaim Him as true God and true Man, is not of God. That's important because there are things that will seek to lead us away from Christ, which is the spirit of the antichrist John says. Hold on to your confession of Christ as Christ in you is greater that our old evil foe who seeks to destroy us. John then returns to his favorite subject in these chapters of this first letter, the topic of love. Not only does love come from God, John says God is love! And God is the one who initiates love and sent Jesus to be the payment for our sins, and give to us His love. If you love one another as God has loved you, God abides in you, and His love is perfected in us John says. Now, here's the dilemma, I'm not seeing perfect love in my life... are you? The truth of course is that that perfected love this side of eternity, is in the process of being perfected... so it's not something you'll see in completeness right now, but it is at work. I love how verse 16 puts it... God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. Of course sometimes we choose not to abide, and it's at those times love is absent in our lives. And what about verse 18... perfect love casts out all fear... someday... love will drive out all fear! This of course is followed by verse 19, "we love because He first loved us!" How true!