Day 1,138: 1 John 4- By This We Know...

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God Is Love7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Meditation
Recently a man came to me asking for help in knowing assurance in salvation, the primary point of John’s letter (5:13). Moments like this are an honor to patriciate in, and today we see evidence of how God’s spirit seals us in God’s steadfast love (Ephesians 1:13) to assure our hearts.
 
“By this we know…” is the refrain uniting our reading (2, 6, 13). John assures the church we can be certain of what we know by the Spirit of God (1-6), the love that reveals God (7-12), and by abiding in God’s perfect love.
 
In a world where people gather to have ears tickled with false teaching to justify their own passions (2 Timothy 4:3-4), Christians test the spirits to discern Truth. The Spirit of God confesses Christ in the flesh, celebrating the truth of God’s revelation, and leading to love.
 
Love is from God- God is love. Christianity is not about our love for Him but God’s love for us, and we know His love abides in us when we love one another: “If we love one another, God abides in us…” (12). If we say we love God but hate our brother then we deceive ourselves. Abiding in the love of God will bear fruit in showing love of God to the family of God.
 
We can know we abide in Him because of Christ’s Spirit abiding in us. By this Spirit we confess Jesus as Lord, abide in the love of Jesus, celebrate the truth of Jesus, and “have confidence for the day of judgement” (17).

Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading?
 
-Where do you wrestle with certainty of truth and abiding in the love of God?
 
-How does the person and work of The Holy Spirit give assurance of salvation seen in abiding in God, resulting in fruit that loves truth, loves God, and loves others? Where do you see this evidenced in your life?
 
Key Verse
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.