Hello, good people. Welcome to daily

Trimble refresh, which is brought

to you by voice of God daily. My name is doctor Brad

Miller here to offer you a fresh perspective on a

daily reading of the scriptures. We do so by making it

understandable, relatable, and applicable. We

do so by reading from the revised common

lectionary, that is the selected verse of scripture for this very

day. We're in year c. It goes in a 3 year cycle, and we're

in year c, and it's the epiphany season. We make

it understandable by reading from the new testament, reading for this

day only. We also read it from the message

translation of the Bible, which is very understandable. We make it

relatable by offering you a couple of points to ponder to think about

regarding the scripture, and we make it applicable by offering you an

action step which you can apply to your life. We have a prayer, and we

do it all in under 10 minutes. The reading for

today, for this very day, is from the epistle first

John 5 13 through 21. Just

a a note that first John is different than the

gospel of John. This is one of Paul's letters. It's called an

epistle or a letter. So it's 1st John 5

13 through 21 reading from the message. The

reality, not the illusion. My

purpose in writing is simply this, that you who believe in God's son

will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal

life, the reality and not the illusion, and

how bold and free we then become in His presence, freely

asking according to His will. Surely that he's listening.

And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that we've we

know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.

For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning, clearly,

I'm not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that

is fatal, leading to eternal death. We ask for God's help

and He gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is

not fatal. There is such a thing as fatal sin, and I'm

not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is

sin, but not all sin is fatal. We know that none

of the god born makes a practice of sin,

fatal sin. The god born are also the god protected.

The evil one can't lay a hand on them. We know that we

are held firm by God. It's only the people of the world

who continue in the grip of the evil one, and we know that the

Son of God came so we could recognize and

understand the truth of God. What a gift, And we

are living in the truth itself in God's son, Jesus

Christ. This Jesus is both true God and real

life. Dear dear children, be on guard against

all clever facsimiles.

Wow. What is what a what a profound passage of scripture about

really about living in truth, living beyond kind of a binary duality of

thinking. It helps us to go deeper

on matters of truth and sin and authentic living. So let's talk

about a couple of points to ponder. Talks about really, I believe,

going beyond a binary morality. That is, we're talking here

the the author here talks has a discussion of a fatal

and nonfatal sin. The the challenge is to move

past simplistic good bad dichotomy. It's

in progressive Christianity, we understand that human behavior and moral

choices exist basically on a spectrum,

and context matters, systems matter, circumstances

matter, and there's a nuanced view that calls us to

approach judgment with humility and understanding.

A second point is collective liberation.

The text here speaks of being held firm by God versus

being in the grip of the evil one, and I believe we can

understand this as an invitation to examine what truly

binds us. Are we bound by love, justice and community

care, or by systems of oppression, materialism

and individualism? Liberation isn't just personal

but collective. One more point. It's

about truth as relationship. This

passage presents truth not only as mere factual accuracy,

but as a living relationship, living in the truth it says,

living in the truth itself. And this really suggests that

truth seeking is about authentic connection with divine

love, with each other, and with creation, and it challenges

us to move beyond literal interpretations to a

deeper lived wisdom. Here's your

action step. I want to invite you to practice

truth seeking in community. That is when you gather with other

people virtually or in person, examine

one truth maybe that you've always taken for granted that maybe needs

to be looked at again. It might be regarding economic systems

or religious doctrine or gender roles, things like this.

Maybe you get some different perspectives on things, especially

from people who may be marginalized.

I invite you to think about that, maybe even journal about it or record some

thoughts about it. We're gonna pray in just a minute,

but I want to share with you that there we have a resource for you

that maybe help you in your Trimble study. It's called the ABC

123 Bible study, and just really makes

Bible study as straightforward and easy as C

123. And you can find it at our show notes along with the transcription

of this episode at voiceofgoddaily.com.

Let's pray. Source of truth, help

us help us release our need for absolute certainty and

embrace the mystery of growing understanding.

When we're tempted to judge others harshly, remind us of our own complexity

and need for grace. Guide us in dismantling

false certainties that have caused harm to ourselves and

others. Help us find freedom in questioning, strengthen community,

and hope in collective liberation. Give us courage to live

authentically even when it challenges conventional wisdom.

Ground us in your love that transcends all binary

things and embraces all of humanity.

Amen. Well, it's been great to be with you.

My name is doctor Brad Miller, and I come to you every day here on

the daily bible refresh. I invite you to join me

tomorrow and invite a friend to connect with us

here on the podcast.

Daily biblerefresh@voiceofgoddaily.com.

Until tomorrow, my friend, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run

out. His merciful love hasn't dried up. It's

created new every morning.