Reflections of a Princess

I finished reading 1 John today and read 2 & 3 John too. It's interesting to me that as I read I noticed a theme in John's letters:

"...everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

1 John 4:7b-8

"Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son."

2 John 9

"The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God."

3 John 11b

There is a definitive line between those who know God and those who do not. The latter might think they do, but don't. It seems so obvious that those who know God are different from those who don't, but those who don't know the Lord may not always be that obvious. It comes down to the details of how you live. Do you simply read the Bible and say, "Yes, that's true." Or do you let the Word transform your life?

"Many read the Scriptures simply to reinforce their current beliefs. Although they read the entire Bible, their mind only sees certain doctrines. Instead of believing what they read, they merely read what they already believe. [...] Christians are often baptized into their denomination. When they are fully indoctrinated, their minds have been immersed into a pool of teaching that leaves them more conformed to the imae of their sect than to the likeness of Christ."

- Francis Frangipane, ICIT

So what does theis all mean? If you let the Lord transform your heart and mind (Ro. 12:1-2) your way will be straight and you will be those John talks about who know God. The catch? We must be spending sustained amounts of time in the Word. If we do not take the time to seat our self before Christ, then how can we be like him? The place Christ is most revealed is in the Scriptures to know HIm we must go there.