By This We Know Love (1 John 3:16-20)

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:16-17 NKJV)

How do we know love? By this we know love, because Jesus Christ the Lord laid down His life for us. Love is ever giving, not taking. God is love and gives us everything, even the Son as the ransom price. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 NKJV)

Likewise, those who received such an outpouring love shall love others just like the Christ did for them. They passed from death to life, because they love one another (1 John 3:14). In fact, only God can love that kind of love, laying down the begotten Son for the world. In that love, the death of the sacrifice involved and thereafter the resurrection follows.

We who are born of God can love one another, because we died with Christ and thereafter rose again with Christ (Galatians 2:20). This kind of love can be manifested only by eternal life. Therefore, it is not us who love others, but Christ in us does. We have received Him by faith as Lord and submit to Him whenever we face the moment when we cannot love others.

The end of old life must come first in order to obey the new commandment of Jesus Christ. That is the only case we practice the righteousness of God, because we cannot stand before God without the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no practice of love and hate at the same time. Neither is there practice of neither love nor love. It must be only choice, either love or hate.

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” (1 John 3:18-19 NKJV)

Love must be accompanied by deeds. If anyone has the goods and sees a brother in need and yet doesn’t take an action to help the needy, there is no love of God in him. Of course, we may not respond to all the open doors in practicing the love of God due to our shortcomings and blindness. But we cannot keep bogging down the opportunities to love others in our midst.

The truth doesn’t breed lies. If we are truly born of God, we must obey His command, love one another. The test of obeying Jesus Christ is to love in deed and in truth. The deed of love must be done truthfully because we are of the truth. Jesus says that the truth will set us free (John 8:32). That is what we are since we entered into the family of God and became the children of light.

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32 NKJV)

Truth gives birth to freedom. Truth never changes or bends no matter how long time elapses, no matter how wide race and culture differ, no matter how high even in heavens, and no matter how deep even in the depth of the earth. Truth lasts eternally. Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus Christ is the truth which reveals all the mysteries of life.

The truth leads us to the Father in heaven. Jesus said to his disciples, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus Christ is the truth and assures our hearts before the Father. The truth is the narrow path. One can fall from the truth either to the right or to the left. Which side he falls doesn’t make any difference. To walk in the truth is to love others in deed and in truth.

“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” (1 John 3:20 NKJV)

Here the condemnation of our heart doesn’t mean the judgment call of God. It means the sense of guilt caused by the missed opportunity of loving others. Apostle Paul pertinently described his experience and all Christians’ reality in Romans Chapter 7. What he would do was the thing he did not. But what he would not do was the very thing he did. He cried out, “What a wretched man I am!”

But the grace immediately comes in when our heart condemns us, proclaiming the truth, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.” God is greater than our heart and knows all things. He understands that we fail and bump down the road, so He does not condemn us but raise us up to walk again in the truth. He reads what is inside our hearts.