Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God

1 John 3:7-24 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸ the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. ¹⁰ By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

¹¹ For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; ¹² not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³ Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶ We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him ²⁰ in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²² and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

²³ This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

In today’s text John says:   Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.  We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  John is talking here about believers loving one another and having sacrificial love for each other. In John 13:34-35 Jesus says:  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”   As believers we are supposed to love others, even our enemies. The difference though is that the love we have for fellow believers is a recipricol love. We are commanded to love one another. The love we have for others is to be an unconditional love. We are to love them expecting that they will hate us in return. Previously the text said:  Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;  the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God.   Many believers err; they are deceived in that they want the world to love them and so they submit to the world’s definition of and requirements for love. They tolerate and embrace sin. In Matthew 7:23 Jesus says:  “I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”   Jesus loved the world so much that He laid down His life and died for our/their sins. He never though, for the sake of their love, embraced lawlessness.  In John 15:18-25 Jesus says:  “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”     In truth, the cause of the world’s hatred is that we are not of the world; we have been chosen out of the world to live in Christ and His righteousness. The world hates those who follow Christ because in the light of righteousness, they have no excuse for their sin.

The text says:   Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;  and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  As believers we cannot do things that are opposed to God’s commandments and expect to receive what we ask from Him. In Psalm 37:3-4 it says:  Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   We cannot expect that God will bless our unrighteousness. Instead, because of the cross, we are blessed with the righteousness of Christ and if we trust in the Lord and do good; if we work at being faithful to His will and if we delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; thank You for Your unconditional, everlasting love. May I not be concerned with the love of the world, but rather with Your love for the world. May I not embrace the sins of the world, but rather may I point them to the cross; the demonstration of Your love, which redeems them from sin. I trust and delight in You. May my heart be aligned with Yours.   Amen.