Passage Read: 1 John 3-4
Meditation Verses: 4:15-16
Thought
John gives us two evidences that God lives in us and we in Him: Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is God's Son and whoever lives in love. It's not an either/or but a both/and. If we acknowledge that Jesus is God's Son, then we recognize God's love for us in becoming one of us in order to pay the penalty for our sin and gift us eternal life. That is the love of God on display for us in very material terms. A love that upholds holiness and makes us holy, not a love that overlooks sin, erases any standard of righteousness and embraces sinful behaviors that were once forbidden. But a love that compels and enables us to put away all sinful behavior so that we walk in the holiness in which we were remade. More than that, a love that teaches us to love those around us in very practical terms, meeting physical needs, as well as in urging repentance and righteous living. The two go hand in hand. They are inseparable. The one begets the other. Faith in Jesus as God's Son and sacrifice produces a love for brothers. You cannot have one without the other.
Application
John gets very blunt a few verses later: If I claim to love God but hate my brother, I'm a liar. If I can't love my brother whom I can see, I cannot love God, whom I can't see. If I love the things I own more than I love brothers and sisters in Christ who fall into need, then I do not have the love of God in me, which means I do not belong to God, even if I claim to believe in Jesus. I cannot love the things of this world more than God or my brothers and sisters. And it's not just love in material terms that reveals genuine, saving faith, but love in spiritual terms: sharing the Gospel with everyone I can, warning others of the consequences of sin, pleading with all to repent and be saved. I do not love people if I do not warn them of the judgment to come and plead with them to save themselves from this evil generation. God doesn't save people from their sin so that they can continue in it, but so that they break free from it and learn to live in love as He loves.