Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.the 1 John 2:7-8
As we journey through Easter Week today is Good Friday. It is considered good because through the death of Christ, the darkness has been banished. I know if it hard to understand how this can be, especially when the world seems especially dark. But the light is here as well and it is growing stronger as well. It is hard to see that the darkness is disappearing because it shouts so loudly. But look around. There is goodness too. I couldn’t be a therapist if I didn’t seek and see the inherent capacity for goodness in people. (From our first parents we have obtained the knowledge of good and evil) I see it in the compassion for those suffering, a younger generation that aches for justice, I see a longing for goodness and justice in so many people, even if that longing is sometimes misguided. Because there is a prince of darkness and He wants to twist and distort everything good that is sprouting up in us and in the world aroundus and to distract us from all that is good and thus stunt our spiritual growth as well.
For the darkness is not necessarily what we consider to be bad or evil. But is found what the world offers as a substitute for what is truly good. And I am personally convicted as I continue to read this chapter.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17
So as we reflect on the life of Christ the remainder of this Easter week let us look to Him for how to live. He gave us two commands. To love God with all of our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He became a pattern for us to emulate from His life and His death. His teaching transforms our mind and way of life when we live it and this in essence is Metanoia. His kingdom is already in our midst.
This post has been from a writing prompt from FMF. A writing community that writes for 5 minutes on a prompt.