I really don't like to hide things. I try to pride myself on being a very open and honest person. That said, I'll be the first to admit that lately God and I haven't been that close. Not that I've been hiding things from Him - since he IS the God of the universe and has put the Holy Spirit actually inside of me, I'm sure that he already knows all that I do and think and all that I'm going to do and think- but I've just been leaving Him out and trying to live life on my own, without relying on Him and putting my faith in its entirety in Him everyday.

But something changed in me yesterday. I woke up with the urge to pray, to read the Bible, to draw closer to God. And I know that that desire in my heart was nothing that I conceived, but it was truly the Holy Spirit inside of me creating a yearning for my God. And it was a beautiful yearning indeed.

So after my classes ...err- my one class, since I already am skipping statisitics..... I came back to my apartment and opened up my Bible to 1 John because those of us on the leadership team are beginning to delve into that chapter together this semester. I had read it before, but probably not all in one sitting, and possibly just to read it, not really to READ it. But as I was going through 1 John yesterday, the words and phrases that I was reading just kept hitting me and striking me as life-changing verses. That's a big way to say it- I know- but if you go and read 1 John, which I REALLY hope you will, I pray that you will get the same experience out of reading it that I did.


After reading it once, and not looking back at it yet, to describe to someone briefly what the book is about, I would say it's about the importance of loving others, the need to stay out of sin, and how the combination of those to actions/lifestyles results in pure and complete joy, given to us from God.

1 John is located in the back of your Bible, after the Gospels and just a few short books before the last book of the Bible, Revelations. 1 John is pretty short, just 5 chapters- and would only take you 15 minutes to read. For some of the background knowledge of 1 John (thanks to Mike Juday): the book was written most likely by the same author (John the disciple) of the gospel of John and the two other epistles of John (2 John and 3 John) and we know this because of the comparative writing styles of the books. John is often referred to as "the one Jesus loved" and is known for fiercely and intensely loving others. It was written in the city of Ephesus, the big mecca or capital city (now where Turkey is), around 90 AD, which was about 5 yeras after the gospel of John was written. In Ephesus at this time, Christianity was still very small and had not widely spread because it was a very dark time as the religion gnoticism was prevalent. Those who practiced gnoticicsm beleived everything spiritual was good and everything of matter, like the body, was evil. Thus, they pushed aside the law, since it was matter, and thought it was no good, and said that Jesus was never really a human (which we know is a blatant falsehood). To compare the religion of gnosticism to todays times, you could argue it is similar to those who don't beleive strongly and follow one religion, but are pursuers of "relative truths," so they acknowledge and don't disagree with Chrisitianity, but also acknowledge all other religions. So to wrap this up, John wrote this kind of as a circulation letter to those who were Christians in Ephesus during this time when they needed words of encouragment in their faith.

More on 1 John later- time to get ready to play in the snow! :)