“First John 4:13-17”

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

“By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

So how can a person know that he is in an authentic, dynamic, redemptive relationship with the Father in heaven? How can we know that “we abide in Him and He in us” (verse 13), and “have confidence” on the ever-nearing “day of judgment” (verse 17)? First of all, John says that we can “know” of our fellowship with the Father “because He has given us of His Spirit.” Because of the Holy Spirit that inspired and empowered the Apostles to reveal and record “all truth,” all who listen to (verse 6) and follow their teaching can be assured that they are “from God” (verse 4). That would include any of us today that open the pages of the New Testament, and believe and obey the “doctrine of Christ” (2 John 1:9) as taught by “the apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 2:20).

Secondly, we can know that we abide in the Father and He in us if we “confess that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15). We can do this with great confidence because we have every reason to believe the eyewitness report of those who “have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (verse 14). John personally saw the pierced and broken body of Jesus Christ that had been taken down from the cross, and “his testimony is true” of the Lord’s sacrificial death (John 19:34-35). He also saw the risen Savior who was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4), and His testimony of Christ’s victory over the grave is also true (John 21:24). If we made the good confession of our faith in Christ when we put Him on in baptism (Acts 8:37-38), and continue to confess our faith in Jesus with our words and our deeds, He will confess His ownership our lives to His Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).

Finally, we can have confidence in our standing with God if “we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us,” and if we abide in His love (verse 16). If we love God in all reverence and obedience, and love our brothers and sisters in Christ in a charitable and edifying fashion, “love is perfected with us” (verse 17). When we have grown our relationship with the Lord to the degree that we approach Him in trust and confidence, and sacrifice ourselves for His spiritual offspring, we have acquired a maturity level that also instills “confidence in the day of judgment.” And when vibrant love for God and mankind govern and control our lives, we follow in the footsteps of our Savior because we are living and conducting ourselves “as He is”. When the Father looks down from heaven and observes our Christ-like behavior, He is pleased with us, our love is perfected within us, and our hope for eternity is filled with promise and glory.

Please read 1 John 4:18-21 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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