1, 2, & 3 John

These three books of the bible bring to light that we need to live in the light and love one another as well as love God. I remember that my sophomore year of college I was in a small group that focused on 1 John. We went in this scripture deep. We started with the Word of Life section and discussed what exactly this meant. We decided that the scripture is a way of passing along the good news. We then continued and discussed the light/dark contrast. There are many songs that include the idea about living in the light. It's a theme that we even see in paintings, like the one of the crucifixion in class the other day.

The books develop from the light into the concept of love. 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." This verse is so powerful and truthful. We continue to be told different ways of loving through the end of 1 John and 2 and 3 John. I almost feel like the entire bible could be summed up into this one verse, however. The bible is very repetitive and different points speak to different people-because we are all unique. But it boils down to having one common theme: God loved us and Jesus Christ laid down His life for us-showing us how to love. We go once again back to the greatest two of the commandments. Both involved love.

I also feel that 1, 2, & 3 John lead up to Revelations very well. We read about Jesus' life, his crucifixion, Paul trying to teach different churches, then we focus on love right before revelations. The love of Jesus and God are something that as Christians we have to focus on before we discuss the judgment day and stuff. Yes, I am looking forward to the coming of Christ, but at the same time, I wouldn't be if I didn't know His love...