Followers
If you truly follow Jesus, there is no way you will be abandoned.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. 1 John 2:1-11
Whoever hates another believer is in darkness.
While we don't have to worry about sinning, because Jesus is our advocate with the Father, we do have to worry about how we treat one another.
If we are true followers, we walk as Christ walked, in the light, because we are the light in the darkness. But if we choose hatred over good toward a brother or sister, we fall out of the light.
Who are my brothers and sisters? Are they just fellow believers in Christ?
It sounds like that is what John is telling us here, but if Jesus came for all the world, then they could be anyone and everyone.
Wouldn't it be safer to just love everyone and hate no one?
That makes the most sense to me, since I have no way of knowing who the followers are. They could be anybody.
I can understand that if we want to walk without stumbling, we need to stay in the light. So, what better way to stay in the light than to stay out of the darkness?
Avoid anger and hatred at all cost, and avoid the darkness.
More to come...