Saturday, August 17, 2013

How Others Know

As I read 1 John this morning, something very different happened for me. In verse five John talks about the the need for us as believers to love those that love God, our fellow believers. It says that this is the love from God. Towards the end of this verse John talks about there being an inner witness that we as believers have when we love God (which also means we love our brother). We KNOW we have eternal life. This also gives us confidence that when we sin, we still have access to God for forgiveness. It is this inner witness that overcomes the condemnation of our hearts, and allows us to have confidence in God. This confidence allows us to ask God for the things we and others need in life, and receive them from God in His time.

The first verse sets the stage for how this all happens. John says he is not giving us a new commandment, that the old commandments still stand. Then he says he does give us a new commandment to love one another, which is the commandment from old. The point is that we are to focus on God and His commandments, which are now written in our hearts. If we see a believer in need and we have the ability to fill that need, we are to love them and reach out to them to fill that need. For me, all of this tied to that inner witness, that God is on our side. It gave new meaning to these ideas for me on this sabbath day.

Prayer
Father, help us to love one another. Help us to understand what you want from us and to understand how to live our lives toward our fellow believers. Thank You for not giving up on us. Thank You for life itself. In Jesus name. Amen.