Bible Journaling: 1 John

This is the first letter of three that a church leader named John writes to churches that he pastored and helped lead. Imagine a missionary who came to a community who did not know the Gospel. He shares it with them and they form a community of believers who come together to build each other up in the faith, a church. Then, the missionary has to go away. But he keeps in touch through letters - this is such a letter!

For a broader view of this book of the Bible along with the following 2 letters, we encourage you to watch this video:

Bible journaling: 

Today there are a lot of possible obstacles that we can imagine for ourselves before we attempt something new, because we live in an age of comparison due to social media. You can be hesitant to start Bible journaling because you compare yourself to other images you have seen online, or you might feel like you don’t have all the correct crafty tools - and you don’t have the budget to buy them. But, have you considered making your own? You can make washi tape by drawing intricate patterns on masking tape, or you make stickers by drawing small images and cutting them out and pasting them into your Bible. Bible journaling should not have a pricetag - it is about the posture of the heart!

LOOK UP (information): encounter God through the Scripture 

Author:

Jesus’ disciple John is the author of this letter and the following two. Most of the New Testament was written by Paul. Paul gave his life to Jesus after a radical encounter, but he never knew Jesus himself as a person in the flesh. John, on the other hand, can be described as Jesus’ best friend - he is often called the beloved disciple. 

This means that the way that John speaks was directly influenced by all the years that he spent with Jesus. Paul or even us today, do not have a lesser access to God - but there is something unique in how the disciples speak. Have you noticed that when you spend a lot of time with somebody you start speaking like them? See if you can identify places in this letter where John uses words like Jesus would use according tot the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). 

Audience:

This letter is written to one of the churches, the first communities of Jesus-followers ever! What a joy and honor to be able to read the same words of encouragements that they did. 

History:

This letter reads like a practical guide to Christian Living. It speaks about how to live our lives purely, how to go about material possessions, how to spend time with God, and how to love in action. It even speaks about spiritual discernment, and how to pray effectively. See if you can find more practical points that come up when reading this book.

Genre:

As mentioned before, this is a letter - Remember in school when you would learn how to write in different styles. An essay or a poem looks different from a letter. How do we see that this book is in fact a letter? Can you imagine what the letter that was written in response could have included?

LOOK IN (revelation): contemplate / reflect on our own lives

Key verse:

1 John 2:5-6 NIV

But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Inspiration:

How can the love of God be made complete in us? What should we do if we want to be faithful followers of Jesus? What is one practical way that you can do that today?

LOOK OUT (transformation): respond with creative worship action  

Drawing prompt:

Read John 1:5-7 and paint a picture of a light. You can paint a lantern, candle, lighthouse or whatever comes to mind. Try to add other elements of these verses to your picture too - like writing some of the words on the candle holder, or along the handle of the lantern.

While you are creating this artwork, be sure to also apply it to your life. What does it mean when we say God is light? What else can be described as light? And what is the darkness then? How can we rid our lives of darkness?

Bible Journey with JournalOwl:

Here are some questions / prompts provided by the JournalOwl community. 

• Because of the love bestowed upon us by the Father, what is our Inherited position? (I John 3:1)
• To what extent will we see Jesus Christ upon His return? (I John 3:2)
• According to John, what is a definition of sin in this verse? (I John 3:4)

Follow this link to dive into this book with an online Bible Study group.

Writing prompt:

This letter of First John speaks a lot about godly living - For today’s writing prompt we will make a list with the title ‘Christianity 101’. Read through the book and see what you can add to the list. This list becomes a summary of everything that the book of 1 John teaches us about living in a godly way. We are all disciples of Jesus, we are learning how to be more like our rabbi. 

For example, from the first 10 verses we can gather the following 5 truths for life: 

A disciple shares the Good News with others (v.3). A disciple’s joy is complete (v.4). A disciple does not lie (v.6). A disciple walks in the light (v.7). A disciple confesses sins (v. 9). 

Prayer:

God, I want to thank you for the way that this letter that John wrote to the first churches have been preserved so that I can read it today. Let my response to this text be worship unto you!