Chapter 1
The life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. 1 John 1:2 – Something made manifest is something that has been made clear and obvious to you. So John is saying that this life of Jesus and the love of Jesus was made obvious and clear to him by all that he had seen with his own eyes and felt with his own hands. That’s the type of testimony no one can push aside and also the type that makes things personal for people. For us, we need to constantly be growing in our knowledge of scripture to be able to share and defend our faith, but we also need to be willing to share our story of what we’ve seen and felt when it comes to God. Like how you saw Him come through in the past or how you felt His love in your time of need. Like John, share what’s been made manifest about God to you with others. Take advantage of the fact that people can argue all day about scripture, but they can’t argue with your story of God making Himself known to you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 749
And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:4 – They saw Jesus. They heard Jesus’ own voice. They existed with Jesus in ways we can only experience in Heaven some day. How amazing would that have been! Yet here we see them saying they are doing something so their joy may be complete and full. What is that thing? It’s sharing what they saw and heard from Jesus with others so they too could join in. This is what completes our joy in our walk with Jesus, when we share Jesus’ love and salvation with someone else. If we aren’t speaking of Jesus and sharing what He’s doing in our story with someone else we are missing the completion of our joy. We’re missing out on the most joyous part of our walk with Christ, when we help someone else step into their own walk with Him. Today, somehow someway with someone seek to share Jesus with them. You’ll find a joy in that unlike anything else. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1714
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 – As I write this devotional, I am up early on Christmas morning, before the all the festivities begin, making sure I find time to be with my Savior this precious morning. I’m reading in 1 John that I have the option to confess my sins to a perfect, no darkness at all, God. I see that if I do, He is good on His end to be just and to forgive every single one of my dark sins. This God of light is making me clean from all my darkness so I can walk with Him and have fellowship with Him. I have forgiveness being offered to me and I have fellowship with God being given to me. All because of Jesus. As we then progress through this day, remember what is now available to your story because of Jesus coming to earth like He did, and giving Himself as a sacrifice for our sins like He did. Today we can have life with God! Sins cast as far as the east is from the west, made pure as white snow, welcomed into the presence and arms of a loving God, and given the promise of paradise with our God for all eternity. So absolutely embrace the day with your family to the fullness, yet weave into this day a heart of gratitude to the Lord for what you have because He chose to give such a perfect gift on such a silent, holy night. We have peace on earth, and peace after this earth, because of Him. We have joy in this world, and joy in the world to come, because of Him. Thank you God for loving us so much and thank you God for the perfect gift of your son Jesus! Merry Christmas everyone! I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2583
Chapter 2
And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 1 John 2:25 – I’ve been thinking a lot about my message I gave to my students last Wednesday night. It was that we can have joy even in the toughest of days when we remember the blessings God has done for us and the promises He gives us. Today, our passage reminds us clearly the promise He made to us…eternal life with Him. That because of the sacrifice of Jesus we now can live life with God every day and know once we die we’ll be with our loving God for eternity. Yes, today may not be going as planned or it’s just simply awful. If that’s the case for you today I really am sorry to hear that, but know if you are a Christian you hold the promise of eternal life in your hands. Remember as well that this eternal life with God doesn’t start when you die, it started the moment you accepted Him into your story. The blessing of Heaven is with you today, try to see over the mess of what’s going on around you and remember God is with you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 750
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 1 John 2:12 – You need to know your sins are forgiven. You need to remember your sins are forgiven. You need to believe your sins are forgiven. If we continue to move through our life with Jesus believing our sin is still holding us captive and is in control of our life then we aren’t walking in the freedom Jesus died to give us. Satan does a great job at causing us to forget we’re forgiven. He can make us believe we still have unforgiven wrongs that keep us from being at peace with Jesus, but remember the truth! Jesus died for all our sins and all our sins have been forgiven! You are clean before Jesus if you’ve placed your faith in Him! Don’t walk in this life then as a poor, dirty sinner because that’s not who you are after you start your walk with Jesus. You are a clean son or daughter of His. How different could your day be today if you saw yourself pure and clean rather than a messed up sinner? Remember who you are. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1715
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning…1 John 2:13a – John addresses “fathers” both here and again in the next verse, saying the same message again. He is speaking to not just dads, but those older in life who have walked with God for longer than most. They would have known God’s teaching well, walked in those teaching for years, and maybe even had the chance to hear such teachings come from Jesus’ own mouth. While a lot is spoken about in 1 John, even in just this passage alone, an overarching message to the fathers and young men (and to all believers), is to live out the teachings you have heard. To love your brother, to not give your life to the pursuit of worldly things, and to not be led astray by those teaching things God didn’t speak. For those of us who fall into the “walked with God for a while” category, we have such a massive role in the lives to those younger. We have to set the example of what living according to the truths of God looks like. For what verse 26 speaks about those seeking to deceive us is become truer every single day. From subtle ways, to overly obvious ways, our enemy is seeking to steal us away from a faithful following of God. Remember then what we have heard from our Savior’s words. Live out such teachings each day. Pass on those teachings to those younger so they too can find eternal life. Today is not the day to relax on our pursuit of God, because the enemy sure isn’t taking a Christmas break on coming after you and your loved ones. If then you have walked this life with God for a while now, stand firm and set the example for those younger on what it looks like to truly be a follower of Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2584
Chapter 3
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. 1 John 3:23-24 – Often times we make Christianity too difficult. We make it this complicated obstacle course of rules when God has created into a clear cut path. God asks us to believe in Jesus and love people and when we do that we know we have His Spirit within us. That’s not so complicated is it? Maybe today we need to get back to our first understanding of God’s love and grace. Let your walk with God be simple today. It’s about you choosing to believe in His Son and choosing to love people like His Son did. God knows how easily we get sidetracked which is why He gave us His Word to keep us grounded. Today we see the simplicity of our faith, don’t overcomplicate it. Who knows, if we keep it simple, maybe we’ll live it out more. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 751
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 John 3:11 – “Humans want to save things that they love” – Steve Irwin. This quote from the Crocodile Hunter is one that set my heart on fire long ago for working with animals. If I could help people love animals then they’d want to save them. Now while saving animals is a great thing my heart has shifted its focus to people. This quote though still spurs me on. God has given us a message and command long ago to love one another. Why? Because when we love something we want to save it. When we love our neighbor we want them to be saved from their sin. When we love our brother we want them rescued from what’s leading them to death. Love for people is what spurs us to share the gospel message with people. Today ask God to grow your love for the people you’re around for when you love someone you want to save them. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1716
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18 – Our love for one another is essential to our life with God. The chapter begins by outlining for us who are children of God and who are children of the devil. That determination is settled by if that person is living a holy life or living a life after sin. For those choosing a holy life, the command stated clearly in this chapter is that we are to love one another. We know this sort of love because we’ve seen it displayed for us by Jesus. Now if our brother needs us, our love isn’t just going to be fluffy talk, but actionable in his life. Allow though the reality of what John is saying here sink in. If we refuse to love our brother, we don’t know God and are not abiding with Him. We can’t claim to be a follower of Jesus if we don’t love our brothers and sisters. What then needs to change within your story to begin loving people like you should? Since our love for one another tells God and others we are for Jesus, then how are we not loving well and how can we change that? Begin with even one small way to pursue a righteous life here, what is one way you can love those in your daily community better? God has given us such an example of love to follow in Jesus, let’s seek to follow His lead today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2585
Chapter 4
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 – Maybe you know that God has love for the world, but do you believe that it’s for you? It’s pretty difficult to study scripture and miss the truth that God loves the world. So for you, maybe you have this head knowledge that scripture says God loves you, but do you actually believe that? Meaning this idea that God loves you is something your leaning on and living life by. It’s changes how you exist in this life whether God’s love for you is something you just know or it’s something you also believe. I pray it becomes the very thing that you live life by because God really, truly does loves you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 752
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11 – How did God so love us? He is willing to look at us in our brokenness and have compassion rather than distain. He was willing to step into our world and into our mess to offer the help we needed. He was willing to die and did die for us so we wouldn’t have to bear the weight of death. This is just a small amount of all the ways scripture tells us how God so loved us. Now, seeing His example, we ought to so love others. Let’s have compassion on their brokenness rather than distain. Let’s be willing to step into their mess to help them. Let’s be willing to sacrifice for the sake of their life. Love spurred God to do great and wondrous things for us, we too should let our love spur us to great things for others. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1717
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 – John begins this chapter with a warning, that every spirit that seeks to teach them and guide them in this life isn’t always from God. There will be false teachers teaching false things to cause us to chase after false truths. While scary to think that there would be such spirits in this world, God wants us to remember a powerful truth. He is greater than anything in this world. Yes, there will be the enemy, and his forces are seeking to attack you relentlessly as you follow after Jesus. This enemy will lie to you, steal from you, and seek to kill you. This enemy will alter the truth in such ways that it seems so legitimate, but it will be a lie to carry you away from a faithful life after God. As terrifying as that can be to be made aware of, God is calling us to look to Him now. When we do, we see just how greater He is than anything our enemy has. God’s hands are big enough to hold us safe and God’s love for us is greater than any fiery dart the enemy may shoot. We have a very real enemy, but we also have a very real God that is closer, stronger, and better than our enemy. With all that in mind, never fear this enemy and never fear his moves. If God says walk, we walk as He directs, and we’ll trust our all-powerful God will protect and provide for every step. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2586
Chapter 5
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 1 John 5:17 – No, John isn’t saying anything here contradictory to the rest of scripture. In fact, when you understand what he is saying, you’ll even agree with him. First off he says all wronging is sin, which we’d agree with. Then he goes and says that there is sin that doesn’t lead to death. What sin doesn’t lead to death? The sin you ask forgiveness for. We see John talk in the previous verse about those who sin and their sin leads to death. These are the people who never see any reason to come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and they just keep on with their sin. Yet for those who are still breathing there is still time to find forgiveness of your sin so it doesn’t lead to death. John isn’t saying anything contradictory, he’s preaching to Gospel. That there is a way for your sin not to lead to your death and that way is finding forgiveness in Jesus. Who do you need to share this with today? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 753
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 – Have you ever had those moments where as your phone is ringing you check the called ID and all you can think is why are they calling you. What did I do wrong, what’s the matter now, what are they going to say when I answer their call? Here scripture is letting us know why God is reaching out to us through His Word…why He’s giving us a call. To remind us of the life He has blessed us with. He’s not reaching out to remind you of how terrible of a sinner you are or to hold your past mistakes over your head. He’s not speaking to you to tear you down He reaching out to remind you of how loved you are by Him and how secure you are in your relationship with Him. So don’t fear the call, pick up His Word and lean into it. The message is a reminder of how great His love is for you and how deeply He wants you close. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1718
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12 – Is there any better way to sum up the message of the gospel? How simpler can you get! God has given us eternal life and this life can be found in Jesus. If you have Jesus, you have life. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have life. I supposed the next question for any who don’t have Jesus would be, “How do I ‘have the Son?’.” We believe in Him, and believe in what the Bible says He did for us and who the Bible says He is. That Jesus is God and did rise from the dead and did save us from our sins. When we make the choice to believe this about Jesus, we find the Son and find life. Now for all our readers who are already Christians, we have just been reminded how simple placing our faith in Jesus is for someone else to do. We also are about to close out another year and begin a new one. I’m sure that making some changes in your life are somehow spinning in your mind as the new year approaches; so let’s throw one more change in the mix. Make this year a year of gospel sharing. Maybe that hasn’t been your thing in previous years, but the message is simple and the message is literally life giving. Imagine closing out next year knowing you pointed at least one person to Jesus that year and you’ll spend eternity with them someday in Heaven. Make this next year about following the greatest mission Jesus ever gave us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2587
Daily DEVO 