Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:1-16
John is at risk of starting to sound a little bit like a broken record since this is the third time in this short letter that John has focussed on love. But John is far from being stuck in a rut! He is inspired by the Holy Spirit to write so much on love in order to give us a deep view into it.
The first time John wrote on love he told us that love for fellow believers is proof of fellowship with God (2:7-11). Then on the second occasion he told us that love is proof of sonship (3v10-14). This third time around we get right down to the foundation of love and discover why it plays such a big part in being a true follower of Jesus. In this passage we discover that love is valid proof of our fellowship and sonship because “God is love”. At the core of the very being and nature of God is love and so if we are united with God through Jesus we ought to share God’s nature. So, if God’s nature is love then love is a perfect test of our spiritual health and life. Just as a navigator uses a compass to establish where they are, so as Christians we can use love as a navigator to establish where we are at with God. How much we display love to those around us shows us how much we are like God. A person who knows God and has been born again will respond to God’s nature and love. As a compass naturally points north so a believer will naturally practice love because love has been shown to them by God. It is not a forced love but a natural response to the nature of God being expressed towards us.
Three times in this passage John encourages us to love one another and he supports each of these by giving us three foundational facts about God. They are:
1) What God is – God is love. As Christians our aim and desire is to become more like Jesus each day and so because God is love we should seek to be growing in love for others each day.
2) What God did – He sent His only Son. God doesn’t just speak words of love but He shows His love in His deeds. The greatest display of love was Jesus’ death upon the cross. It involved sacrifice, cost and action. God shows us that true love is not passive or inactive but that it makes the first move. God loved us first and showed it by sending His Son to die in our place.
3) What God is doing – God is abiding within us. God didn’t just demonstrate His love in one moment in time through the death of Jesus, but He continues to demonstrate His love for us through His Spirit who He has put within us to dwell with us. The power of His Spirit within us guides us, protects us, reveals God to us. The Spirit is a great gift from God that reveals the love of God to us and then enables us to show love towards others.
God’s love for us is astounding and a totally free gift that we did not deserve. At times, loving others is hard - particularly when it involves sacrifice of something we hold dear. Remember God held nothing back to demonstrate His love for us and we were far from lovely when He did it. God calls us to love the unlovely as well as the lovely because He loves us. Take time today to ask God to show you where and how you can love others more.
Prayer for today
Loving Heavenly Father,
We thank you for your great love that you lavish upon us. Thank you that whilst we were far from you, you loved us first.
We come to you today and ask that through the power of your Spirit at work within us you transform us more into the likeness of Jesus. Help us to love as we have been loved. You stopped at nothing to show your love to us. May we be ready and willing to sacrificially love others to show you to them.
We ask that in all we do we may bring glory and honour to your name.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen
Song for today
You can listen and sing along here.
Here is love, vast as the ocean,
loving kindness as the flood,
when the Prince of life, our ransom,
shed for us his precious blood.
Who his love will not remember;
who can cease to sing his praise?
He can never be forgotten
throughout Heaven’s eternal days.
On the mount of crucifixion
fountains opened deep and wide:
through the floodgates of God’s mercy
flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
poured incessant from above;
and Heaven’s peace and perfect justice
kissed a guilty world in love.
Let me all your love accepting
love you ever all my days,
let me seek your kingdom only
and my life to be your praise.
You alone shall be my glory,
nothing in the world I see;
you have cleansed and sanctified me,
you yourself have set me free.
Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash
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