Today’s Reading: 1 John 4:1-6; 5:1-21
This is one of my favorite quotes from Bob Goff’s book Everybody Always, and it goes perfectly with today’s scripture: “Do you want to do something amazing for God? Trade the appearance of being close to God for the power of actually being close to God. Quit talking a big game and go live a big faith.”
What a powerful challenge! When we authentically invest in our relationship with God, the time we spend in His word and worshiping in His presence changes us. He grows the faith He initiated in us and the way we live out that faith evolves. God loves us enough to mold us into who He created us to be. God When we remain in fellowship with Christ and the Holy Spirit is living within us, we begin to see these changes:
WE WILL GAIN DISCERNMENT.
When the Spirit lives within us, we will become more and more discerning of the truth. When we hear something that is not truth, the Spirit within us will warn us and we will experience uneasiness. The Spirit living within us is truth and is greater than the spirit who lives in this world. Because we belong to God, we listen to the Spirit and are able to DISCERN TRUTH from deception (1 John 4:1-6).
WE WILL GROW MORE PERFECT IN LOVE.
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. 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.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and God his love is brought to full expression in us God.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. – 1 John 4:9-13
And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. – 1 John 4:17a
WE WILL OBEY OUT OF LOVE AND NOT FEAR.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loves us first.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. – 1 John 4:18-21
WE WILL OVERCOME EVIL BY OUR FAITH.
For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. – 1 John 5:4-5
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. – 1 John 5:18
Sin will not overpower us. We don’t have to be afraid that we will sin when we remain in fellowship with God. We are children of God and no evil in this world is more powerful than him. BUT, we also have to keep our hearts devoted to Him and avoid situations or temptations that could weaken our resolve to remain in relationship with Him. We need to make sure that we do not start making other things in our life more important than Him. God wants more than just first place in our lives, He wants Lordship over everything in our lives.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. – 1 John 2:15-17
John ends this first letter with great advice for us, and so I end my morning coffee pondering this verse.
Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. – 1 John 5:21
Lord, thank you for the evidence we are already experiencing in our lives, evidence that you are at work and creating us into a new person. We thank you for Your perfect expression of REAL LOVE as demonstrated in your birth and in your death on the cross. Lord, continue to strengthen our faith in you and our love for others. Amen.