John 5:1-5

1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone
who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love
the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love
for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome
the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Meditation
1. John insists that God stimulates one love in our heart; a love that expresses
itself both toward God and toward others. We can’t be warm toward God
and cold toward our fellow Christians at the same time.
2. There is another exciting thing about love for God. It makes obeying
EASY. “Want to” is always easier than “have to”. As long as we feel that
we are forced to do certain things that God demands, those things will be
burdensome to us. But if we eagerly want to do those same things, they
seem to us to be a delight.
3. Do a quick check up on my love for God. Do I want to do those things that I
know please God?

Personal Note:
God wants me to grow in the love for him.
God wants me to love the people around me especially those I minister to.  
God wants me to proclaim the good news of Christ to people who do not know him.

Do I want to do the above things to please God.

John 14:15-17

15”If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of
truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Meditation
1. This passage is about the Holy Spirit, ask Him to guide in a prayerful reading
of it. Make the reading a prayer in itself.
2. The Holy Spirit is the most neglected personhood of God. Yet Jesus promises
to leave His disciples (and us as his followers) with this important Friend.
What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit in me and guiding me throughout
my day, as this passage says: “But you know him, for he lives with you
and will be in you”? Is it comforting? Discomforting? Frustrating? Hard to
understand? Awesome? How can I grow today in awareness that the Friend
lives in me?
3. As I drive, walk, work, study, and interact with others today, call on my
Friend for his guidance with the thoughts I think, the words I speak, and the
decisions I make.

Personal Note:
The Spirit lives in me and is guiding all my thoughts.

1 Peter 1:13-22

13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope
fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient
children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
15But just as he who called you is holy, so; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because
I am holy.”
 17Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your
lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18For you know that it was not with
perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty
way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious
blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before
the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified
him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
 22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have
sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

Meditation:
1. Peter’s call to holiness can be confusing and intimidating.  We are often
bombarded by the media depicting “holy” people as stiff, sexuality repressed,
boring, lifeless, self-righteous, judgemental, and deeply hypocritical.  Yet the
picture we see in the Bible is that to be holy is to be transformed into Christ’s
image.
2. While Jesus was on earth, sinful people flocked to him, while self-righteous
folk tended to avoid an encounter.  Peter experienced firsthand Christ’s
penetrating, loving holiness, and even after his greatest mistakes he couldn’t
keep away from Jesus.  How are holiness and love related?  Peter further
instructed: “have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply,
from the heart”.
3. Pray.  Ask God to teach me to live an authentic holy life that is different and
separated from the world.

Personal Note:
Holiness means being set apart to be more like Christ.  God is love.  Jesus Christ is God.  A person who is holy is also a loving person.  I can love sincerely when I have experience the holiness of God's love.

At times, I feel tired from caring and loving for others.  Coming back to God in prayer and resting in Him is the only way to keep on serving and loving others.