Practicing Love Series

Recently I learned of some bign church pastors who committed adultery and lost their ministry. How is it possible for men who truly love God to fall into such obvious wickedness? They disregarded the first pangs of conscience. If you disregard the warning lights on the dashboard of your car, you are going to ruin a battery or crack a motor block. Many a Christian has wrecked their lfie by ignoring their conscience.

Sometimes your conscience may condemn you when you are not guilty. The devil is an expert in magnifying and causing guilt over things. God knows this. Since God is greater than your conscience and He knows the true condition of your heart, you can be comforted that He loves you in spite of your weakness and failings. Your conscience is not the Supreme Court. There is a higher court: God! When your conscience is condemning you and making you feel uncertain, appeal your case to the highest court in the land.

Because we are aware of God’s love within us as demonstrated by our generosity to meet the need of our brother, and that God is gracious with us despite our failings, we can approach God with confidence (v. 21). Then John illustrates this confidence with prayer (verse 22). People who are fearful and uncertain of their relationship with God are hesitant to approach God in prayer. John gives two reasons for our confidence to talk to God in prayer: we obey God’s commands and we do what pleases Him. That may be stating the same thing two different ways. The two commands in this chapter are embracing all that the Scriptures teach about Christ. That is what John means by the “name” of Jesus. The second command, stated in verse 23, is to love our brother.

In verse 24 John says we know we belong to God because the Holy Spirit indwells our life. But the way we know we are living in fellowship with God is we obey His commandments. In other words, the security of our relationship with God is based on God’s Spirit living within us, but the fellowship we have with God rests upon our obedience to God. It is our fellowship not our sonship that is affected by our obedience.

A powerful story emerged from the bombing raids of World War II where thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. After experiencing the fright of abandonment, many of these children were rescued and sent to refugee camps where they received food and shelter. Yet even in the presence of good care, they had experienced so much loss that many of them could not sleep at night. They were terrified they would awaken to find themselves once again homeless and hungry. Nothing the adults did seemed to reassure them, until someone thought to send a child to bed with a loaf of bread. Holding onto their bread, the children were able to sleep. If they woke up frightened in the night, the bread seemed to remind them, "I ate today and I will eat again tomorrow." (Dennis Linn)

What does it mean to be saved? It means that you are thoroughly stilled and at peace with God because of Jesus Christ. His victory at the cross and the grave gives us a peace that transcends all things. Like children pacified by the assurance of bread, our actions and the Holy Spirit witness that we hold within our soul the Bread of Life. We know His promise is more solid than our fears, and He will out last time. Love reassures our relationship with God.