1 John 4:10-12

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Encouraging Words

The two commandments that Jesus gave us to live by are to love God and to love our neighbor. We sometimes find ourselves complaining that we do not know how to love this way. All that we have to do is to look to God and we will see how to live with this love in our lives. God is not commanding us to do what He has not already done and continues to do. By ourselves, we will never be able to love this way. We are too self-focused. Godly love does not come from our own accord, it comes through the love that God has for us. A love so deep, so wide, so all-encompassing, that He sent His Son to be our Savior. Because of this love, and this example of loving another, we can love others. Loving this way is so powerful that by loving one another we will have God abide in us and be manifested in our actions of loving. Glory be to God!

1 John 4:4

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Encouraging Words

So, what is it that we have overcome? The verses before this speak of the forces or spirits that are at work in this to draw us away from God and His grace and mercy. Notice that the verb used here is that we have already overcome them, that they no longer have any power or control over us. How have we done this? We have not on our own, but our Lord, by His indwelling within us gives us His power to overcome the spirits of this world. Through Him, we can live godly and pure lives because He is greater than he who is in this world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Personal challenge

We have become, in many cases, a “Christian” nation of hypocrites. What do I mean by this? We go to our churches on Sunday’s and midweek’s and sing songs about God’s love and mercy. We relish in the fact that He loves us and that Jesus gave His life for us. We take joy in hearing that He wants us to love one another. And then we go through the rest of our week cursing at the person who took our parking spot or cut in the line before us. We talk angrily and hatefully about those aliens amongst us who are here in our country when we would rather they be somewhere else. We do not love those around us, all of them in word or in tongue. We are hypocrites. As Jesus call the Pharisees, “we are whitewashed tombs.” We are called to love in deed and not just words. Lord, have mercy!

1 John 3:16

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Personal Challenge

God does not expect us to know how to love Him and our neighbor without giving us a clear example. That example is Jesus. He became a human being so that He could be one of us. He lived His life in one of the hardest times in human history. He loved us so much that He gave His life for us. If we know Him, love Him, and strive to be like Him, then we too will be laying our lives down for our brethren. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 John 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Encouraging Words

Those of us who have chosen to give our lives to Christ and strive to follow in His footsteps have been proclaimed by God to be called His children. Through Christ, we have been adopted into His family. As His children though, the world no longer sees us as part of its family and begins to show its dislike for us just as it shows its dislike for God. As this happens more and more in our lives we should rejoice because this means that we are becoming more like Him. Glory be to God!

1 John 2:17

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Personal challenge

Throughout the history of the Church, people have given there all to the Church. Some have given all of their possessions. Some their time by becoming ascetics, monastics, priests, and volunteers in their local church. Some have even given their lives as martyrs. The world looks at these committed Christians and sees them as foolish. As a Christian, however, we look at the promises of our God and see that the things of the’s world mean nothing compared to the eternity that He has for us. We are happy to give up those things that are temporary for the opportunity to abide with our God forever as His children. Glory be to God!

1 John 2:7

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

Personal Challenge

From the beginning of God’s creation, there has been one commandment for all to follow. All other instructions, guidance, and even the old covenant law are based on this commandment. Love! Love our God. Love our neighbor. Love those who love us. Love those who hate us. Love ourselves. This single commandment comes from God’s very nature, which is that He is love. We have no excuse for not knowing what He wants us to do. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 John 2:4-6

He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Personal challenge

John does not pull any punches here. If I claim to “know” Christ, to be one of His followers, is there evidence of that in my life? Do I keep His commandments? Do I love God and strive to be like His Son? Do I love my neighbor? How do I love my neighbor? Am I loving, caring, and compassionate toward my family, my friends, those whom I work with or just run into every day? Do I take care of the widow, the orphan, the naked, the poor, the alien (immigrant amongst us)? If I am not doing these things, if I am not expressing God’s love in this world that He has placed me, then there is the possibility that my proclamation that I “know” God, is actually a lie, a facade. These are sobering questions to ask, but necessary to keep me focusing on Christ and striving to walk as He walked. A walk that took Him to the cross for all of us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!