1 John 3:18-24 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is 1 John 3:18-24. Let’s go!
1 John 3:18 (NIV)
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
On verse 18: One of the big themes of 1 John is that true love is shown not just with our words but with our actions. When it comes to love, actions speak louder than words. I encourage you to memorize this verse.
1 John 3:19-20 (NIV)
19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence
20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
On verses 19-20: Has your own heart ever condemned you? Have you ever wrestled with the thought, “maybe I’m not a child of God after all or maybe God is not with me”? The first way John says we can reassure ourselves is by focusing on the fruit of our lives, instead of on our feelings. If you have a tendency to be very negative and critical of yourself, if you are prone to beating yourself up and wondering if God is still with you, focus on the good things you have been able to do with God’s help as a reminder that you belong to God. Focus on the fruit of your life, not on your feelings.
But be careful how you apply this, for notice that John is writing here to Christians, not to non-Christians. John is not telling non-Christians that you can earn a place in God’s kingdom by your own performance. He is telling Christians who have a tendency to doubt their own salvation or to doubt God’s presence in their lives to focus on the good things that God has done in and through them as reassurance that God is with them. On that note, let’s remind each other often of the good things we see God doing in and through each other.
1 John 3:21-22 (NIV)
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
On verses 21-22: The problem with having a self-condemning heart is that you lose your confidence before God and you become unwilling and hesitant to ask God for anything. God does not want you to live with a self-condemning heart. He made you to be confident before Him, to believe that through Jesus Christ God is pleased with you and that you can ask Him for anything and receive it.
1 John 3:23-24a (NIV)
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them…
On verses 23-24a: God is not neutral on whether or not people should believe in Jesus. He isn’t like those who say, “You can believe in Jesus, or you can believe in something else – up to you.” No, God wants us to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, for only in Jesus do we have life with God. That’s why God commands us to do so. God is also not neutral on whether we should love one another. That’s why He commands us to love.
1 John 3:24b (NIV)
24 …And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
On verse 24b: The first way John says we can reassure ourselves that we belong to God even when our hearts condemn us is to focus on the fruit we are bearing, not on our feelings (see verses 19-20). Here John describes a second way: it is “by the Spirit he gave us”. In other words, whenever you get into a self-condemning mode, one of the best things we can do is ask the Holy Spirit to speak into your situation. I find that whenever I am feeling insecure or unsure of myself, I will ask the Holy Spirit what He thinks and find Him often speaking words of comfort, encouragement and love for me. For “the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). Since the Holy Spirit speaks words of love and encouragement better than anyone, ask the Holy Spirit to speak into your situation whenever you’re tempted to condemn yourself.
Father, thank You that You didn’t make me to live in self-condemnation but with confidence before You. Whenever I get into a self-condemning mode, Holy Spirit please reassure me of who I really am in Christ. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
