Heart of Love
1 John 5:1-5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (ESV)
I have been spending some time in 1 John 5 in preparation for a sermon this week. 1 John is a book full of love; John uses different forms of love 46 times in only 5 chapters. All throughout this epistle are the evidences of God’s love for us, and our hearts love for him as his children. John points to the proofs of one’s saved soul in their love for their fellow man; well more directly here their fellow brother in Christ. It is almost an inexplicable feeling when you are consumed by God’s love; it is so life changing not only to feel a heart tug for those in faith, but to feel a heart tug for those out of the faith. You are torn in anguish for the lost souls that you encounter. You feel a bond with those that will share eternity with you. You begin to gain a discernment from the Holy Spirit, reading good and evil, for those you encounter; it is all bound in love. The more time you spend cultivating your relationship with your Father in his Word, and prayer, the greater your discernment becomes, the greater your faith becomes, the greater your love for Him and those in the faith.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. How can this be put any clearer? There comes a point in your faith that you LOVE the changed life you lead. The fleeing from sin and the life you have been rescued from. Why would you return to the temporal pleasure that condemns, when you can deny it as a proof of your love for the One who freed you from it. Matthew Henry’s commentary is powerful on this faith that overcomes the world. “Faith is the cause of victory, the means, the instrument, the spiritual armour and artillery by which we overcome; for, (1.) In and by faith we cleave to Christ, in contempt of, and opposition to, the world. (2.) Faith works in and by love to God and Christ, and so withdraws us from the love of the world. (3.) Faith sanctifies the heart, and purifies it from those sensual lusts by which the world obtains such sway and dominion over souls. (4.) It receives and derives strength from the object of it, the Son of God, for conquering the frowns and flatteries of the world. (5.) It obtains by gospel promise a right to the indwelling Spirit of grace, that is greater than he who dwells in the world.”
Do you have that heart of love? Do you have a feeling of brotherhood with those of the faith in Christ; do you have that anguish for those that do not know Him? The heart that has this is the heart of Christ; the heart that has this has conquered the world with Him. The heart that has this knows that eternal paradise awaits them with Him that created, saved, and sustains this temporal world where we live for only a speck of sand in the hourglass of eternity.
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