Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings that are easily applied to everyday situations. Consider carefully which of the sayings you’ve read today are particularly applicable to you today and in the coming week. What do you need to change or do more of to make use of God’s wisdom in your life?

The Psalms are great for helping us relate to God and worship Him. It’s wonderful to spend time in the word and grow in your knowledge of God at a head level. Use today to do your quiet time a little differently and try to grow in your knowledge of God at a heart level. We must always strive to move from knowing of God to knowing God.

When John says he writes “these things” he is probably not referring to the whole letter but what he has just written about the testimony of God. No matter what false teachers may say, we can be sure that we are saved. Our assurance of salvation is always based exclusively in the promise of God. Because of this assurance we can have confidence that if we ask God anything according to His will He will hear us. Knowing that He hears us we can also have the confidence that we have what we ask for. While this holds true for any prayer we may pray according to God’s will, it most likely refers more specifically to asking for help in keeping God’s commands.

John moves from praying for our own needs to bringing in the brotherly love he has spent so much time talking about. As we love our fellow believers we should pray for them and their spiritual needs. One of our greatest needs is help in areas of sin, that we might repent and return to abiding with God. There is some sin that leads to death. John is talking about brothers who are believers and they have all received the promise of life (John 11:26) so the death John speaks here is not eternal death, but physical death. We see an example of this kind of sin in Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) and the Corinthians who were partaking in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner (1 Cor 11:27-32). There is some sin that God deems severe enough that the punishment is immediate physical death. It is not stated what this sin is but it is not one single sin. For all other sins we are encouraged to pray for our brothers that they may turn from them and be granted an extended life (see. Eph 6:2; Deu 5:16). Don’t get caught up on what sin might be sin that leads to death. Instead be encouraged to pray for your fellow believer that they may live in the cycle of abiding in the light, recognising their sin, repenting and returning to abiding as we all should (1 John 1:8-10).

John reminds us that everyone who is born of God has a renewed nature that is inherently sinless (This is not about habitual sin but about the new nature given us by God that is sinless. Our sin is unnatural to who we now are at the core). Our sinless nature enables us to resist the temptations of Satan and he is unable to touch us. We know that we are from God and are not part of the world system that lives under the power of Satan. We do not have to listen to or follow the ideas and practices of the world. We are set apart! Instead, we have been given the understanding that makes knowing God a reality. We are able to abide in the one who is true and in whom is eternal life.

John’s final warning was very relevant to his readers who were exposed to idols as a very prominent part of pagan life. We may not feel any temptation to get involved with idols but we are all in very real danger of getting entangled in the pervasive cultural sinfulness that is considered acceptable behaviour in the world around us.

In what ways are you entangled in the ways of this world that are unnatural to your sinless, born-of-God, nature? What will you do to move away from that towards a more abiding life with God?

Yesterday John ended by saying that the ones who overcome the world are those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Now John focuses on what we must believe about Jesus. He is the one who came by water and blood. He came by water when He was baptised and began His public ministry. He came by blood when He shed His blood and died on the cross. John was likely speaking against teachings like that of Cerinthus who taught that Jesus was a man and that the divine Christ descended on Him at his baptism and departed before His crucifixion. He denied that Jesus came by both water and blood. The third testimony to Jesus being the Christ is the Spirit. The Holy Spirit testified at Jesus’ baptism. John makes clear that the Holy Spirit is a different person, not the Christ descending on Jesus only to leave again before His crucifixion. The Spirit’s witness also came through the prophets who prophesied about the coming Christ. The Spirit’s testimony is true because the Spirit is the truth (in the same way God is light and love). All three testimonies agree that it is one divine person who was baptised and crucified.
If the testimony of man can be accepted, when it is adequately verified (Deut 19:15), then the testimony of God, who is greater (and who is truth) should be accepted. God’s testimony is that He has given us eternal life through His Son. God’s testimony simply needs to be believed. He has said that eternal life is found in Jesus and without Jesus no one can have eternal life. If we believe this, then we have the assurance that we have life. If we do not believe this, then we call God a liar.

Salvation can be a sure thing. Doubt about our salvation comes when we look to the wrong things to provide assurance, even things like abiding in Christ. Salvation is based on a promise, a promise from God Himself and born witness through the Spirit, Jesus’ baptism, and Jesus’ shed blood on the cross.

It may seem easier to love God who we have not seen and not quite as easy to love our fellow believer who we have seen. We can easily view God as worthy of our love while our fellow believer might seem less than worthy. But love is not about feelings or emotion, it is about action. John has already told us we must love in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18). Our expression of love to both God and man is in obedience to God’s commandments. If we say we love God but do not obey His command to love our brother, then we lie—harsh but true.

Who is our brother? I have already referred to them as our fellow believer because it is everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. Every believer is a child of God and whoever loves the Father, should love His children. We cannot say we love the Father but do not love His children. How do we know if we love God’s children, our fellow believers? By keeping God’s commandments (which includes loving our fellow believer). It seems logical that if you want to express love to God you will want to do what pleases Him and where better to find that than in His commands. The wonderful thing is that His commands are not burdensome (Mat 11:30)—this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily easy, they may be difficult but they are a delight. Not only are they not burdensome but we, by virtue of our faith, have overcome the world. The victory achieved by our new birth makes obedience to God’s commands something we can achieve. We begin our Christian life by faith and we live our Christian lives by faith.

A major lie of the world system is that love is something that must be earned—you must be lovable. But God showed us that love is something to be given. God showed His love by loving the unlovable—you. If your love for God is measured by the person you love least, what does that say about your love for God? How does your thinking about love need to be rewired based on what you have learned today?

“By this” refers to John’s previous point that our abiding relationship is based on loving one another and we know we are abiding because He has given us [out] of His Spirit. We get to participate in the same Spirit He is, the spirit of love, because God is love.
In the opening of his letter, John spoke of the Life (Jesus) they, the apostles, had seen and testified to (1 John 1:2). Now John explains that through Christian love, we all are able to enjoy the fellowship the apostles experienced, fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ as promised in 1 John 1:3. When Christians live in love for one another, then God’s love is seen and experienced and it testifies to the love of Christ who came as the Saviour of the world.
“The visible manifestation of eternal life through Christian love is an effective way to testify about the Saviorhood of Christ. Such a ‘seeing’ is a ‘seeing’ of faith expressed in the confession of Jesus as the world’s Savior.” (Z. Hodges).
As a Christian community we abide in the fellowship the apostles saw and heard when we love one another and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, thus keeping His commandment (1 John 3:23).

This abiding love gives us confidence for the day of judgement when we need to stand before our Saviour and give an account for how we have lived. The idea of standing before a holy God to give account should be sobering. But if we have fellowship with God, then the love God has for us and we have for God reaches its goal and will cast out fear. We will have the boldness to stand before Him because we are standing before the One we love and who loves us. But the disobedient Christian has reason to fear. He need not fear being denied entrance into heaven because that has been guaranteed by the Lord’s promise (John 5:24). The disobedient Christian fears disappointing his Saviour, rebuke for not producing fruit, and a loss of rewards. John says that this fear has to do with punishment and that punishment is a discipline that is also part of God’s love. When we respond to God’s discipline and we confess, we are able to return to fellowship with Him (1 John 1:8-10) and his love can be perfected in us. Ultimately our ability to love others and love God is based in Him, the source. We love because He first loved us!

As you think about that time when you will have to stand before Jesus and give an account for how you have lived, how do you feel? Do you have a sense of trepidation and fear? Let that fear be an early warning to make things right and move toward the life of abiding John has spoken so much about so that love can cast out that fear.

John returns to the subject of loving one another. Love originates from God, from being born of God as a Christian and knowing God in abiding fellowship. The absence of love is an indication that a person does not know God, not that they are not born of God, but they are not in fellowship with God. We do not love because we are born again, we love because we are both born again and abiding. It is from intimacy with God that we are able to produce a Christ-like love for others. Early in the letter, John said that God is light (1 John 1:5-10) which spoke of his holiness and that no sin originates from Him. Now John tells us that God is love. Love is not God. Just because we see love between two people doesn’t mean it is a holy love. Much of what the world exhibits as love is not the love of God and is perverted by the world. God defines love and it is seen most clearly in His sending Jesus into the world, not because we initiated anything (Rom 5:8) but because He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means that Jesus satisfied the wrath of God by doing what was needed to save us from our sins. If God loved us this much, then we should love one another, not out of compulsion (though that might be a good place to start) but out of appreciation for what God has done for us. No one has seen God but if we love each other with a love originating from God, then His love is perfected in us, it is made complete in a full and deep experience of that love.

Many have pointed to “God is love” as an excuse to do what they want to do without condemnation. But we cannot bring a perverted view of love into that phrase. God defines love and His definition of love is all about selflessness not selfishness. How much has your definition of love been influenced by TV, the internet, other media, and even what you want? How does that change when you compare it to the selfless love of God sending Jesus and that love shown in how Jesus lived?

Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings that are easily applied to everyday situations. Consider carefully which of the sayings you’ve read today are particularly applicable to you today and in the coming week. What do you need to change or do more of to make use of God’s wisdom in your life?

The Psalms are great for helping us relate to God and worship Him. It’s wonderful to spend time in the word and grow in your knowledge of God at a head level. Use today to do your quiet time a little differently and try to grow in your knowledge of God at a heart level. We must always strive to move from knowing of God to knowing God.

John has explained that we need to abide in God and when we do we will exhibit the righteousness of Christ in our love for our fellow believers. When we live like this then we abide in God and He abides in us by the Spirit He has given us (John 14:23). As believers, we all have the Holy Spirit within us (1 Cor 3:16) but we can grieve the Holy Spirit when we don’t live rightly (Eph 4:30-32). Once again John is speaking about abiding and fellowship. When we obey God, then we live in fellowship with Him—we abide in Him and He in us. If we grieve the Holy Spirit, He doesn’t leave us, but His relationship with us cannot be considered abiding.

If we know we are abiding by the testimony of the Spirit within us then we must be certain we can discern the Holy Spirit from all other spirits. John seems to be using the term spirit quiet loosely to cover discerning between all teachings of truth or error. Any teaching which fully confesses Jesus as Christ incarnate (in flesh) is from God. Those that do not hold to the doctrine of Jesus fully God and fully man, the Christ are not to be trusted. John doesn’t speak of those who deny but those who do not confess. Some false teaching may not be fully recognised because instead of denying a doctrine, it may just not affirm it. Because we have the Holy Spirit within us who is greater than he who is in the world (the devil and his false teachers) we will be able to stand against deception.
John speaks of three groups, you—the believers, they—the false prophets, and we—the apostles. The false prophets have a message from the world which is attractive to the world who listen to them. The apostles are from God and whoever knows God listens to them and those who are not from God don’t. This is how we know the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error, the apostolic teaching of the New Testament is where we find truth and anything that doesn’t agree with it fully, is error.

It has been said that to spot a fake, you need to know the real thing intimately. There are too many ways to present something false that it is impossible to win by looking for the error. We must focus on spending time in God’s word so we know it so intimately that when something contradicts it the error is alarmingly obvious.