Proof of Love

Scripture: 1 John 5 TPT

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah is God’s spiritual child and has been fathered by God himself. And everyone who loves Father God loves his children as well. 2 This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to his commands. 3 True love for God means obeying his commands, and his commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. 4 You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world. 5 So who are the world conquerors, defeating its power? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:1-5 TPT)

Everyone! Everyone who believes Jesus is the Messiah is God’s spiritual child and has been (born again) fathered by God himself. Everyone! That includes Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Roman Catholics, Charismatics, Seventh Day Adventists, Nazarenes, Church of God, Church of Christ (Please forgive me if I missed your denomination. I only have so much room on the page!). The point is that everyone who believes Jesus is the Messiah is my brother and sister. We’re all fathered by God. I don’t get to pick and choose who my true brothers and sisters are based on: whether they baptize by immersion or sprinkling, what day of the week they attend church, whether they elect their pastor or appoint their pastor, whether they speak in tongues or don’t. If God is their Father, they are my brothers and sisters!

If we love our Father, then we’ll obey his commands: 1) Love God supremely, 2) Love your neighbors, 3) Love your enemies, and 4) Love each other as Christ has loved us. His commands aren’t complicated or burdensome. They’re also not easy! We Christ-followers love people who look like us and think like us and talk like us and we also love people who are different from us.

Friends, our common faith that Jesus is the Son of God is the victorious power that makes us world conquerors! Our faith defeats the power of sin and selfishness, of lies and deception, of darkness and confusion. So let’s be sure we get this! Victory over the world system is a “we” thing, not a “me” thing. It is through love, through receiving the full expression of God’s love, and through loving others with the full expression of God’s love that we become world conquerors. There’s no “them vs. us” in the equation. It’s “we”!

Prayer:

Father, May “we” conquer this world by “our” faith in Jesus Christ! Amen!