October 15, 2020

Walk! In the Name of Love

2 John 6

Kate Romero
Thursday's Devo

October 15, 2020

Thursday's Devo

October 15, 2020

Central Truth

Walking in love means knowing who God is and choosing to walk with Him, striving to be like Him, and walking as He walked.

Key Verse | 2 John 6

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

 

 

2 John 6

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Dive Deeper | 2 John 6

The writer of the hit Motown song "Stop! In the Name of Love" appeals to morality—the distinction between right and wrong—in its catchy plea. But what is love? And how do we "walk in love"?

John, in his second letter, exhorts the "elect lady and her children" to remember the commandment of love, the commandment from the very beginning. In writing to one particular person and her children, John also appeals to the local church and all who abide with Christ, that we are to walk in love, which is the person of Jesus Christ. 

The question isn't so much WHAT is love, but more WHO is love? "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8) Anyone who preaches anything different does not know or abide in the teaching of Christ, as John reminds us, the church, in the latter half of 2 John. 

Pastor Martin Lloyd-Jones, an expository preacher from London (1899-1981), writes about how John commonly used the phrases "walking in the light" and "walking with God" to elicit the picture of Christ as the light, the picture of complete perfection. He is the standard by which we know how to walk in love, as He is love. 

In 2 John 6, John writes, "And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it." Since God is the standard of love, His commandments give us the way to know how to walk in love.

"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments." (1 John 2:3) Love is not about following a list of laws, but rather seeking to live in the light with Christ as fully as we can, that we might be well-pleasing in God's sight, striving to be like Him, walking with Him.

Discussion Questions

1. 1 John 1:6-7 says, "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." Does your life reflect an abiding relationship with Christ?

2. With today's culture, the media, and many churches prominently "preaching" that truth is subjective, how can you be prepared, as 2 John 8 says, to "[w]atch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward"? 

3. What would it look like in your own life today to abide with Jesus Christ, walking in truth and love?