Kristi Burchfiel

Life and Love, Day 13 Expectations. Read 1 John 3:11-15. Managing expectations can be one of the most challenging areas in life. This can include everything from managing the expectations of other people toward us, to also managing our own expectations. We need to be realistic about what we see and what we are going to experience in life. If we are a follower of Christ, we need to understand that success looks different for us than what it does for the rest of the world. Success is about following Christ and being obedient to him. Success is not about money or position. If we are not staying focused on…

Life and Love, Day 12 Be righteous. Read 1 John 3:7-10. What does it mean to be righteous? John answers this and says that the one who does what is right is righteous. God desires that we do what is righteous. We are to be righteous as God himself is righteous. These verses are laid out very simply. John wants people to understand the gospel is not complicated. But because it’s not so complicated, there’s not any wiggle room. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. People who are doing what is right are followers of Christ. People who are doing what is wrong are not.…

Life and Love, Day 11 Be like Christ. Read 1 John 3:1-6. As we read these first few verses of chapter 3, we see just how much God loves us. John wants to make sure we understand that the father has lavished his love on us. We are his children and he is going to make us like him. He wants us to be the perfect creation he originally designed when he created humanity back in the garden of Eden. God has lavished his love on us. John also wants us to understand that we may not truly know what it means to be in the image of God. We…

Life and Love, Day 10 Confident. Read 1 John 2:28-29. There will come a point when we will stand before God and give an account of our life. John knew this and wants to make sure that we have made choices in our life now that will result in our standing before the Lord with confidence. We know that we have no right to stand at all before God except for Christ. But in our relationship with Christ, have we been following him in obedience and showing him that we love him through what we do? Follow Christ and be confident in his love of us. And our love of…

Life and Love, Day 9 Spot the fake. Read 1 John 2:18-27. Now that John has explained the importance of loving the things of God and not loving the things of the world, we are responsible for spotting the fakes. The early church that John was writing to was experiencing people who were claiming to be of Christ, but then teaching things that were not even close to in line with the gospel message. John reminds the people that part of demonstrating the love of Christ is understanding when people are not of the love of Christ. We have to be able to identify those who are teaching things that…

Life and Love, Day 8 It matters what we love. Read 1 John 2:15-17. As we continue reading, John has just been explaining why he was writing the book to the people. Now he wants to explain the point of love. As a man who is so focused on the love of God and the love of Jesus, it may seem interesting to think about the fact that there are things that we should not love. John wants to be very clear, love is not meant for everything. Love is only meant for God. We are to demonstrate and display to God the love that we have for him. We…

Life and Love, Day 7 Hope. Read 1 John 2:12-14. We have hope because of Jesus. John is sharing with the people that he is writing to them for so many reasons. The main reason is because we have hope in Christ. If we have come to him, Christ has forgiven our sins and he has made a way for us to experience his grace and mercy. Because of him, we have hope. As we go through life today, we recognize that all we have is a result of our relationship with Christ. Are we sharing that with others, just as John was? We have a reason to hope because…

Life and Love, Day 6 Words matching actions. Read 1 John 2:7-11. Our attitude and actions must match. As we read 1 John we see just how focused on God’s love he really is. We are to be living out God’s love in every area of our life. But, we must make sure that our attitude toward ourselves and others matches up with God’s love. We are not to be claiming one thing and living out another. We are to be consistent in all that we do, and that consistency extends to our attitude as well. Are we keeping a Godly attitude toward others? Watch the video devotional here: https://youtu.be/t1l5cQ_Tf7g

Life and Love, Day 5 Complete Love. Read 1 John 2:3-6. Many people have desired to understand love. They want to have perfect love. They want to experience complete love. God gives the recipe for how to find that in these verses. If we obey God’s word as a follower of Christ, we experience complete love. Not just do we experience it, but it is made complete in us which means that is the love that we are demonstrating to others as well. You see, love is not just about what we experience. It is also about what we share with others. Are we seeking God’s love? Do we want…

Life and Love, Day 4 The advocate. Read 1 John 2:1-2. At one point, I worked handling employee relations investigations. While doing that, it was always amazing to me how many people would claim to have an attorney. They wanted to have someone intervene on their behalf into what we were discussing. The good news is that we all actually have an advocate who intervenes for us. Jesus Christ is the one who is able to approach us and also speak to God the Father on our behalf. He stands in the gap that was created by our sin. However, he will only do that for those who want him…