Scripture Daily

Context No. 1466 of 4322 · 1 John

Context · Reflection

1 John 3:18-24: in context

18My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. 19And by this we know that we are of the truth and persuade our hearts before him, 20because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. 24He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.

John urges his readers not to love merely in word or speech, but in deed and in truth. And by this, he says, we shall know that we belong to the truth and can reassure our hearts before God: for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows everything. If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive, because we keep his commandments. And his commandment is this: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another; the one who keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.

The line that brings comfort is the one about the condemning heart: whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows everything. John knows that many of us live under the accusation of our own hearts, a conscience that condemns us, an inner voice that says we are not good enough, that our failures disqualify us, that God must be as displeased with us as we are with ourselves. And to that condemning heart he speaks a word of release: God is greater than our heart. Our heart's verdict is not the final word; God, who knows everything, who sees the whole of us, including the love and the striving that our self-accusation overlooks, is greater than our own condemnation of ourselves. This does not mean the heart's accusations are always wrong; sometimes conscience rightly convicts us, and then we are to repent. But it does mean that when our heart condemns us beyond what is just, when it crushes us under a weight God himself does not lay on us, we can appeal past our own heart to the God who is greater than it and knows all. And John gives a way to reassure the anxious heart: by loving in deed and truth. When we actually love, not only in words but in action, our own hearts are quieted, reassured that we belong to the truth. The condemning heart is not the highest court; God is greater, and love in deed is how the heart is calmed before him.

When my own heart condemns me beyond what is just, crushing me under a weight God does not lay on me, can I appeal past my heart to the God who is greater than it and knows everything, and can I let love shown in deed reassure my anxious heart before him?

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