I have thought about what to say in this final Oil Change for some time now. Some of you have been on this journey with me since the very first devotional went out on September 1st, 2007. Others of you joined us more recently.

While writing these devotionals has demanded an enormous amount of my time, I don’t regret the decision to start doing them at all. It has been pure joy. Over the years I have received so many emails and comments from people around the world. You have no idea how your comments have blessed me. Even last week, when I sent out the special announcement, I was amazed at how many replied back.

Again, thank you.

Let me be clear: I’m not going anywhere. I will still be writing over at my personal blog. In fact, I will be dedicating much more of the content at that site to the things I’m learning on this spiritual journey. I really do hope you’ll choose to join me over there. Like this site, you can choose to subscribe by email and you’ll get any posts I sent in your inbox (just look for the envelope icon and click on it).

For those who continue to stay connected over at robdale.ca, I’ll chat with you soon. For those who decide not to move over, I pray God’s blessing on all you accomplish for him. Again, there are a number of devotional blogs that I recommended in the special announcement email. You can find it here.

Let me close by quoting from Jude’s closing statements in that letter.

²⁴ Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. ²⁵ All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

Amen.

¹³ I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. ¹⁴ And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. ¹⁵ And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.¹⁶ If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. ¹⁷ All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.

¹⁸ We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

²¹ Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Final Remarks

I considered breaking up this passage into a number of days, however, I felt like John was trying to wrap up everything he’s written in his letter in one overall summary. It is clear from these words that John had a deep love for those who he ministered among.

Remember, John is living in Ephesus as he writes these words. He has been with these people for a few years now, but not his entire life. He has seen most of his ministry peers (Peter, Andrew, James, Matthew, etc.) put to death for their faith. He knows that he will likely follow the same fate at some point. And so, he looks out at the next generation of Christ followers, and he loves them. He encourages them to be confident in how they come to God, to hold each other accountable, and to never lose sight of the great calling to love God and love others.

I can’t think of better words to end with.

My prayer: Father, I thank you for all you have done in my life. I am reminded of the people who invested in my own spirituality. Ministers who willingly took the time to speak life into me. They challenged and encouraged and ministered to me on a regular basis. I thank you for them. I also thank you for the opportunity to speak into the lives of others. I think of those who have stepped out into full time ministry over the years. I am grateful for each of them. Thank you that all of us have the opportunity to speak into the lives of others if we choose to do so. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

⁶ And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. ⁷ So we have these three witnesses—⁸ the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. ⁹ Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. ¹⁰ All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

¹¹ And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

Testify

This is one of those passages that causes most people to go, “huh?!?” After all, at first glance, it’s not very clear what John is talking about. Of course, that’s the challenge for those of us who are reading these words almost 2000 years after they were first written.

You see, in order to understand what John is talking about, you have to know some of the teachings of the Gnostics. One of those teachings was that Jesus was born fully human. The Spirit of God didn’t enter Jesus until his baptism. And then, just before his death, the Spirit of God once again departed, leaving Jesus only a man at his death.

John has spent his entire letter defending the belief that Jesus was fully God and fully man at his birth and at his death. And that’s his point in this passage. Using terminology that Gnostics would fully understand (water and blood), he makes the point that both testify, along with the Spirit of God, that Jesus was the Christ: God incarnate.

My point is this: there are times when the best way to make a point is to take the very terminology most comfortable with  those in your audience and use that terminology to introduce the message of God’s love. If you’re talking to a biker, use language that a biker will understand. To a doctor, introduce God’s love using medical terminology. It may mean that others who are peaking in at the words you write (or say) may struggle to understand them (unless they understand the context), but you must be true to your target audience.

My prayer: Lord, far too often we expect our audience to understand our terminology. In many church circles, we’ve come up with language that those outside the church simply do not understand. Show me the ways in which I miss my target audience, and help me to always speak in a way that is easy for others to relate. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. ² We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. ³ Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. ⁵ And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Faith

Do you remember why John was writing this letter? He wrote it around the same time that he wrote his Gospel. During that time, a group called Gnostics were making a lot of noise. For this group, the pursuit of knowledge was more important than anything else. John’s gospel, and his letters, were a response to the gnosticism that was creeping into the church.

Gnostics would focus so much energy on gaining knowledge that they would neglect the people around them. Their spirituality was wrapped up in books, learning, and debating truth. They looked down on those who were less educated and saw them as also being less spiritual.

So, John comes along as says, “Guys, it’s rather simple. If you believe that Jesus was the Christ, you’re a child of God. And, as a child of God, all you need to do is follow his commandments. And that’s not burdensome. Because his commandments can be summed up in loving God and loving others. By the way, all of this happens through faith.”

Of course faith is having confidence in something you cannot fully see or know. In a way, it’s the opposite of gnosticism. Faith is accepting that God’s ways are beyond our ways and while we can love God with all we are, we will never fully know or understand everything there is about God. Salvation doesn’t come in knowing all about God, it comes from having faith that God knows everything about us and yet still loves us.

My prayer: Lord, you know that I love knowledge. I love to learn and discover new things. And in itself, that is not wrong. You welcome our desire to discover. In fact loving you with my mind is all about learning more. However, may my pursuit of knowledge never push away my pursuit of you. You are far greater than anything I could ever learn. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. ¹⁹ We love each other because he loved us first.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? ²¹ And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

Don’t Lie

Okay, okay, we get it, John. Love God, love others. Time to move on, buddy.

And yet, John seems to save his biggest statement to the end. After spending more than a chapter of his letter challenging his readers to love God and love others, he throws out a very radical statement: If you claim to love God but don’t love others, you’re a liar. Wow. Don’t hold back, Johnny.

Of course, he’s right. You can’t do one without the other. To truly love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you have to love the things that God loves. And God loves people. So, if you don’t love others, you are not grasping the heart of God. You are missing the point, and you are not loving God fully.

The more we love God, the more our hearts will be drawn to loving others. It’s just that simple.

In fact, if you want a measuring stick to determine how you are doing in your relationship with God, just look at how you treat others. If you are someone who attacks, criticizes, gossips, and tears down other people, then you are not someone who loves God. Sorry, you’re not. You may be someone who loves religion or loves the “idea” of God, but you’re not loving God.

So, love others. In doing so, you’ll discover you love God more and more. And, vice versa, love God and you’ll quickly fall in love with people.

My prayer: Lord, this is always a challenge. To love you more will mean loving others more. To love others more, will take loving you more. It’s an amazing journey we are on. Today, I choose to love. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

¹³ And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. ¹⁴ Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

God Is Love

I remember a teacher at Bible College saying to us, “Remember, God is love, not love is god.” At the time, I thought the guy was just being stupid. I mean, really? That’s the best you have?

Now that I’m a little older (a little???) and have a bit of experience under my belt, I think I know what he meant by that statement. It’s easy to get the two confused. Many seem to think that “all you need is love.”

The ultimate goal of a Christ follower isn’t to know love. It’s to know God. We are not called to draw people to love. We’re called to draw them to God. He is our focus. And as we focus on him, we discover what true love is. Because true love is only found within the character of God.

Why focus on this? Because when you make love out to be god, then it’s easy to get misled. Suddenly the ultimate focus is to never offend, never take a stand, never hold another accountable. But none of those things are what love truly is. Love is everything that we find in the great definition of 1 Corinthians 13. And that type of love is only found in God.

God’s character oozes love. But God is more than just love. Love motivates God, but doesn’t define him. Hope that makes sense.

My prayer: Lord, you have not called us to love …love. You have called us to love you and others. Help me to understand the difference and to focus my energy in loving you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

This Is Real Love

I’m sure the members of Bikers’ Church are getting a little sick of this whole “Love God and love others” thing. After all, we’ve been focusing on that statement for over a month on Thursday nights. In fact, last night, we talked about what it means to love others (you can view the video here once it’s available).

We just cant get away from the idea that God is calling us to love others. But loving others will require sacrifice on our part. It will cost us something. It will not be easy to do. And John drives home that point by telling his readers what real love is. He uses the perfect example of God loving us so much that he sends his son to die on our behalf.

I can’t imagine the depth of that kind of love. Sure, there are a small group of people for whom I would sacrifice my own life. It’s a very small group of people. However, I can’t think of anyone that I would sacrifice one of my girls for. I’m sorry, but if it’s your life or my daughter’s life? I hope it’s not a painful death for you.

And yet, God sacrifices his son for us. And John suggests that the depth of our love for others should be equal. That we should be willing to sacrifice everything we are for the sake of another. Wow.

I guess that’s why they call this a journey. Most of us readily admit we’re not at that level. We need to look at where we are and continue to allow ourselves to be challenged by real love. Do you love others? Can you love others more? I know I can. I know I must.

My prayer: Lord, I don’t know if I will ever be able to love others to the same degree that you love others. However, help me to continue to journey in loving others more. May I always see people the way you do: people needing love. And may I always be willing to give of myself in order to meet that need for love in their life. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

⁴ But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. ⁵ Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. ⁶ But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

He Is Greater

It’s easy to forget, isn’t it? God really is in control. He really is greater and more powerful than any force at work in this world. Sometimes we can look at all the evil, the wrong doing, the false teachings, the moral and ethical failures even among those who claim to know Christ, and we can wonder who really is “winning.”

He is greater. The Spirit of God … the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and lives inside of you … is greater. He overcomes. He stands true at the end of the age. No matter how it may seem or what is going on in the world around you or even in your life personally. God is greater than all of it.

When we see that, hope is discovered. We become confident in his ways. At least I do. I look out around me and I realize that my role is to simply continue to trust God. I am called to be his servant. I am called to love him and love others. The rest is his problem, his job, his duty.

Don’t lose sight of the one who lives inside of you. Don’t become discouraged because of your surroundings. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that evil will win. God is greater. He will lead us to victory.

My prayer: Lord, in the midst of my day, as I face all the challenges that may come my way, help me to keep my eyes fixed on the greatness of who you are. May I never lose sight of the one who is greater than anything in this world. Amen.

Until tomorrow.

By the time the study on 1 John is completed, I will have written 813 pages and 257,456 words. Incredible. I didn’t know I had so much to say!

However, I believe it is time to take a break from doing these devotionals.

During my road trip, God challenged me about all the things I was doing. I felt in my heart that I needed to focus on the “main thing.” What was it that he had called me to do? I believe that “main thing” is Bikers’ Church. He has called me to shepherd this amazing group of people and journey with them into discovering more and more of what it means to love God and love others.

As some of you can imagine, writing The Oil Change takes a lot of time and effort. I spend a full day each week in order to stay ahead. By the time I’ve written six or seven devotionals, my creativity and ability to focus on other deeper stuff (like sermon preparation) is limited. A pastor friend pointed out to me this past week that I spend approximately 20% of my work time writing The Oil Change. It’s simply too much.

At the same time, I’ve neglected my personal blog. www.robdale.ca was intended to be a place where I could tie together my love for riding and my passion of God and share thoughts along the journey. However, by the time I’ve finished writing The Oil Change, there is little left for me to put into that blog. I want to change that. I want to enjoy sharing random thoughts on my personal blog that will still impact and touch the lives of others.

And so, once our study of 1 John is complete (it is scheduled to be done on Wed., March 17th) I will stop publishing new devotionals. I hope that many of you will log in at www.robdale.ca and subscribe to my personal blog (you can also get that blog via email) and continue to follow me on this journey.

I recognize that some would still like to have a daily devotional, and so I began following a few in order to find some that I can recommend to you. These three in particular stand out:

Power To Change has two excellent devotionals. One is geared to men, the other to women. Click here for more info.

Rick Warren has a great devotional based on Purpose Driven Life that you can find here.

So, thank you for allowing me to connect with you each day through this simple Oil Change. I hope you understand why I feel I need to move on from writing it and trust that we will continue to journey together over at www.robdale.ca

By the way, I am working on putting the existing Oil Changes into booklets. Once they are available, I will send out a notification through this site. If you currently subscribe to the Oil Change by email, I would suggest you leave the subscription alone so that you can receive any notifications I may send out.

Until some day.

¹ Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. ² This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophetacknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. ³ But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

Test Them

It should be pretty obvious to most of you that I am a strong proponent of grace. I believe that in everything, we should err on the side of showing grace to those we come in contact with. Our role as believers is to extend unconditional love to everyone who crosses our path.

However, many confuse showing grace with letting anything go. As soon as you challenge something, you are accused of judging a person and lacking in grace. But is that accusation fair? It depends on what you are challenging.

You see, the Bible is clear that we are not to judge the heart of a person. Only God sees the heart. In fact, Jesus suggested that we will be judged using the same measuring stick that we judge others.

However, we are called to test the actions of others. Not to judge them as being worthy of God’s love or not (for none of us are “worthy” of God’s love … that’s why it’s grace). We are to test the words and actions of another to determine if what they are saying or doing lines up with what the Word of God says.

I meet a lot of Christians who never question anything. As a result, they buy into whatever someone says. And I think that’s a foolish way to live. There are a lot of popular teachers who are telling people really nice, spiritual things and yet I believe they are not teaching Jesus Christ, Son of God, crucified and rose again. If you don’t teach the truth about Christ, then your words are really just … words.

My prayer: Lord, help me to not just be someone who speaks what is popular. Help me to be someone who speaks what is true. And help me know the difference when I hear another speak. May I never judge a person’s heart, but I may I be wise in discerning what they say. Amen.

Until tomorrow.