Spirit given

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

1 John 4:13

This life of mine is spiritual.

There is a way I always know

that what I do and say here below

is under my God and Savior’s control:

My heart is where God’s Spirit dwells.

God lives in me, I live in Him.

I feel conviction of my sin.

I know He makes holy within

all that I surrender to Him.

Heaven’s breeze brought on a Spirit-wind.

I live in Christ. Christ lives in me.

By His Spirit now I am set free

to love and move and have my being

right now and through all eternity.

God will draw me near and live with me.

Sin no longer from my Lord has riven

since God His only Son has given.

I am made new. I am forgiven.

And I know I’m headed toward heaven

through the comfort of His Spirit given.

Lord, I praise You for this gift I receive

as in Jesus I firmly now believe.

The sorrow and brokenness You relieve

from death and hell my soul’s reprieve.

I have life beyond what I can conceive.

blessed assurances

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

1 John 3:19-20

This third chapter of 1 John has within it six marks of assurance that give the believer confidence in Christ. I need not worry about my eternal salvation when Jesus saves my soul. He does good and lasting work. Here are the marks that the apostle John gives us:

1.  Love for the family of God (1 John 3:13-18; 3:19). This is an active love that is shown in what we do with fellow believers. These become our dearest relationships. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). In short, we live out love with each other, showing we are indeed transformed by Christ.

2. Spiritual sensitivity.  It is what we “know” here in 1 John 3:19. We know we are in the truth and like Jesus promised in John 8:31-32, the truth sets our hearts free from worry.

3. Confident prayer. “We have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21). We can ask of God with kingdom values driving us as we serve Christ. And that confidence along with answered prayer assures us.

4. Obedience. “…we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:22). The fact that I can truly obey Christ is assurance that He has saved me.

5. Faith in Christ. “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ…” (1 John 3:23). My obedience is directed solely to my Lord and this faith is now evidence of His work giving me the capacity to follow Him. Faith in Christ comes from Christ.

6. The indwelling Spirit of God. “And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whose he has given us” (1 John 3:24). I’m not highly mystical at all, yet I know, feel, and experience God’s Spirit at work among the saints and daily in my own heart. Yes, I feel His presence and work. Sealed by the very presence of the Holy Spirit of God, I am confident then that I am Christ’s saved one! Amen!

A love that lays down life

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

1 John 3:16

Love is a basic human emotion and a real human need. It is also part of what God created for us to know in Him and with one another. Love led God to create humanity with His own hands. Love would later drive Jesus to spread His arms and have His hands nailed to a cross. Love was shown to the world by the Father sending His only Son to save us. And it is only through experiencing this saving love that we can truly love God and other people.

Christians proclaim this love to the world. And we celebrate the love of God in Christ in our worship, in gospel preaching, and at the Lord’s Table when we remind ourselves of the amazing way God loves us. We also celebrate God’s love by loving each other well. And as the apostle John reminds us here, just as Jesus laid down His life for us in love, so we should humbly sacrifice ourselves in love for one another.

These two loves are always linked together in John’s practical theology. Because we have been loved in Christ, we now love our brothers and sisters. And the only way to truly love our fellow Christians is for us all to love as Christ loves… giving ourselves for and to one another. We lay aside self and devote ourselves to the need of another person.

Lord Jesus,

I do not always love like You do. I often appreciate Your sacrificial love. I may even selfishly demand it from others. Help me first to give myself to living and giving love as You do. My life is not my own. I lay it down for You to use as I lay my life and love down for others.

Amen

This is the promise.

And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

1 John 2:25

With the words of this one verse I pin all my future hope forever.

And this is the promise… God has made a promise. The God Who from the opening pages of holy scripture reveals Himself, makes His promises to us, faithfully keeps ALL His promises, will continue to do so in Christ. These are not just mere words. These words constitute a promise from a covenant-making, promise-keeping God.

…that he made… This promise is unilateral. It is not that we had any part in making it. We can add nothing to this redemptive promise. God made it in Christ. Jesus did all the work of our redemption. God provided all the means and method of our salvation. I bring nothing of my own merit to receive this gift. It is all Christ’s work. He made the promise. He keeps the promise. He is the promise. 

..to us… Believers in Jesus receive this promise. A unique gift from God is given only to those who believe Jesus. God reaches out to us. And we possess this promise from God right here… right now.

… eternal life… Wow! The promise that we now possess, that is given by God, secured by Christ, given to us… this promise will last forever! We will live forever in Jesus. We pass from death to life in Jesus. We possess the guarantee of life forever in Jesus. The gift we need the most in a world of brokenness, death, and destruction is eternal life. And this is exactly what God gives us now in Jesus.

Lord,

I rejoice right now as I hold the promise You have made to me — eternal life. I believe it for those I have loved who have died, but yet who by faith in Jesus now possess eternal life. I can see them safe with You, Lord Jesus, as Your promise is reality. I hold to the hope of this promise for the people I love in life as well… that in the death and resurrection of Jesus sins are forgiven and eternal life is offered to them. Oh, that they believe and trust Your promise with me! I claim this promise as my real future, trusting You, keeper of all Your promises, entrusting You with the fact of my eternal salvation. I hold onto Your promise of eternal life… holding all my hope and all my best in Jesus!

Amen

not home here

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:17

I’m not home here

in a world passing away

in a place that is temporary

in a life that is not stationary

this world is not going to stay

I’m not home here

with Jesus do I live

I will take the future He will give

an eternity dwelling with and in Him

is where I am destined always to live

I’m not home here

a better light I see

shining ahead to guide me

to where I’ll live eternally

finding joy, love, and life completely

I’m not home here

I’m on a journey through

a land I sojourn to be with You

Lord, show me what I am to do

to reach this home beyond the blue

“I know Him.”

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 

1 John 2:4-5a

“I know Jesus.” With that statement I have put my life upon the stage of public inspection. To know Jesus is to know forgiveness. To know Jesus is to be changed. To know Jesus is to know and commit to the truth. To know Jesus is to experience the supreme love and to learn to love as Jesus loves… selflessly, completely, sacrificially, and for the glory of God the Father.

In what sense then do I know Jesus? I know Him as Teacher, Savior, and Lord. This has been revealed to me by the Word of God. 

Jesus is my Teacher. I am His disciple. I know Him by understanding and constantly growing in what His Word says. I study His life in the gospels. I see His story build in all the Old Testament to make the gospel the ultimate truth of all time. I learn how to live in His Church as His follower in the New Testament epistles.

Jesus is my Savior. His death made Him the advocate… the mediator… the satisfactory sacrifice before God the Father atoning my sin and that of the entire world. His saving work is complete, effective for all who will receive Him in this way. I add nothing good enough to please God. Jesus did it all. And I throw all my soul onto His cross and find my life now resurrected in His empty grave!

Jesus is my Lord and my God. He directs my life. He is perfecting me in His love. I must work at obeying Him. I still fight sinful and selfish impulses. I fail and throw myself again on His sufficient sacrifice. I let His Holy Spirit convict me and His Word instruct me. My will must bow to Him in worship AND obedience. In this way I keep His commandments. In this way my life practice, transformed by His work, is radically different as His disciple. And through Jesus, God keeps working His love in me until I stand complete before Him. I will know this fully in eternity. Yes… I know Jesus! I am changed by Jesus forever!

Dream-driven disaster

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

Jude 8

Our Disney-derived cultural advisors tell us to follow our dreams. Bad idea! Look at what dream-driven people do in this assessment of apostate teachers found in the book of Jude: 1) They defile the flesh. That means they are sensually motivated and become sexual sinners. 2) They reject authority. This is probably in context apostolic authority and the authority of the Word of God. They only accept their own “authority”. 3) They blaspheme what is glorious. They disregard the supernatural for the natural. Jude mentions a disregard of God’s angelic messengers, but ultimately this is a disdain for the glory of God. Yeah… dream following is dangerously destructive.

Is it wrong then to have a dream? Does this warning mean that I dare not have a vision for my future and goals that I desire to achieve? No… that is not what is going on here. As long as my hopes and desires for the future are Word-derived and Holy Spirit led, I can trust in a “dream”, a God-given vision of what can be. It is good to dream God’s dream. The danger comes in making my dreams and not God’s dreams my controlling vision. I cannot hope in myself. I cannot hope in human visions. I must hope in God.

And so, Lord, I look to You to bring me every day, from Your Word, hope for each day and a vision for tomorrow. I will trust in You. I turn from fleshly dreams that do not uphold resurrection but end in defilement and death. I turn from autonomous dreams that lead to disorder, chaos, and human disappointment. I turn from purely naturalistic dreams that short-circuit the vision of Your glory and cloud the future in Your judgment. I turn to You, Jesus, to the gospel of God, to the Word of God, and to the Spirit of God to set my hopes and dreams.

Amen