Back to the Beginning

Back to the Beginning
Words of Faith 5-23-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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1 John 3
[11] This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. [12] Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. [13] Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. [14] We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. [15] Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

What was the message that you heard from the beginning?
For many of us, our beginnings had mixed messages. Even our Christian beginnings may have been confusing. There may have been talk of love, but there were actions that were painful and wounding. There may have been talk of grace, but the attitudes spoke of condemnation and guilt. There may have been songs about love, but in reality, groups of people were excluded or put down. In our beginnings, we may have experienced a message that was not of Christ at all. That is different from the beginning, which John is talking about.
John calls us to remember the beginning of our walk with Christ. Suppose we focus on the beginnings of our life with Jesus, when we discovered that we are a new creation in Christ. In that case, we will find that planted deep in that moment of regeneration is the knowledge that God loves us and has put inside us a love for others. Perhaps you have never had that new beginning if you don't find that deep inside. There is no better time to begin than now.
The alternative? John says that the alternative is to be like Cain. Cain was jealous and angry, brooding and resentful, lashing out. We can be like that even if we take on the trappings of church and Christianity. We can nurse childhood wounds that never heal. We can be hateful toward others and a world that hates back. We can even cloak all that in religious language. But that is not where we find the core of who we are. We must leave the mark of Cain behind.
We know that we have left the mark of Cain behind when, in our new life, we find the love of God for others within us. That does not mean that healing will not take some time. But it does mean that we leave behind the wounds of rejection, jealousy, and resentment to be transformed by His Spirit.
So, remember the message you heard from the beginning, or listen closely, and you will hear it right now.

Lord Jesus, I need You. I confess my sin before You. I claim this moment as a new beginning. I choose to receive Your love for me and the love You have put in me for others. Lord, love the people around me today, through me. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.