Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

The Evidence Of Being A Child Of God

1 John 3:14, 18 – We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers and sisters. Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

THEME OF THE DAY: THE EVIDENCE OF BEING A CHILD OF GOD. All Christians experience seasons of doubt of whether or not they are truly children of God. The devil throws fiery darts attacking our assurance at various times in our lives. It is the reality of spiritual warfare and the remaining sin within us. And during those intense battles, the seasoned soldier of Christ will run to the promises of God. They will cling to His unwavering Word and sure covenant. They will battle doubts with the shield of faith to quench these attacks from the evil one (Ephesians 6:10-18). Another thing the warrior of the Lord will do to quiet these accusations from Satan is to do self-examination looking for evidence of truly being born again into the family of God. And the place to do such evaluation is the first epistle of John. If we are struggling with assurance, 1 John is our book. It was written by the Apostle John for that very purpose; to give us tests to verify our adoption. It is a wonderful book to build the foundation of assurance as we evaluate ourselves with the evidences John gives of being a child of God. One of those evidences is our love for other Christians.

The Apostle writes, “We know we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.’ He is basically telling us, “Do you want to know if you belong to Jesus? Ask the question – Do you love other Christians? If so, you may rest assured of being in the family of God.” Now be careful not to answer that question quickly with a “Yes, I love God’s people so I am in the family.” It is easy to SAY that but the evidence is not what we SAY but in what we DO. Remember John’s words in the first chapter of his little letter – “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). Our profession is only as good as our practice. That is not an attempt to earn salvation. It is the evidence of having salvation. What we do always validates what we say we believe. And John would go further in his letter making the point clear. He writes, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Again, we may paraphrase him. He is saying, “Put feet on your love. Make it tangible. Give it some action. If there is no action, there is not love.” If we say “I love God’s people” but give no consistent evidence by action, it is simply self-deception.

So what does this mean? A love that has feet on it toward other believers? It means spiritual involvement in the lives of other Christians. This is extremely important to grasp. The love demonstrated to other Christians is a spiritual love, not human, and comes from God. It goes far beyond sharing in social activities and events. Unsaved people do that with one another. No, this love John is saying is giving us evidence of being in the family of God is a spiritual love shown forth in spiritual activity. It means we are regularly with fellow followers of Christ in prayer, in the Word, in service, and in Biblical fellowship. It means time together in spiritual things, not out of duty or obligation, but delight to share in the things of the Lord.

It is a Biblical truth that where the love of Christ is present in a person, a growing desire and delight to be in prayer, the Word, and service with other believers exists that moves one to fulfill these God-given longings. That is what the love of Christ does. It creates hunger and then activates the will to be with God’s people to share Him with one another and that as much as possible. In the event this desire, delight, commitment, and practice is weak or absent in our lives, we must stop and ask “Why?’. No Christian may justify the lack of such things. The love of Christ in us produces such things. No Christian may say, “My life is too full of responsibilities and demands not allowing such participation.” Granted, we may not be able to participate fully at every opportunity, but we can participate faithfully in some opportunities. The issue is never availability but desirability. And where the love of Christ resides, desire for actively loving His people will be both present and lived out.

PRAYER: “Father, show me one way I affirm my adoption into Your family is by way of active love to those in Your family”

QUOTE: “Love demands commitment, time together and personal sacrifice. And it is the mark of being Jesus’s disciple.”