This is how we know

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments."--1 John 5:2.  1 John 5 begins after God tells us through John that love is perfected through Christ.  We are also told in 1 John 4:7 to love one another. Why? Because love is from God.  Why we love is the context. 1 John 5:2 tells us this is how we know.

This is how we know.  The following verse in 1 John 5:3 we will find that loving God is keeping His commandments.  Furthermore we find that His commands are NOT burdensome. We will deal more with that aspect of His commands tomorrow night.

This is how we know.  Keeping His commands is how we know we love God. One of those commands is loving Christ and in turn loving God's children, loving one another as put in 1 John 4:7. This is how we know.

This is how we know.  Loving the children of God.  I want to take a slightly different approach tonight. Maybe cause you to do a little self examination. Do you love God? The almost automatic response from the Christian is yes.  But before you answer the question, let me ask you, how is your relationship with the brethren?  

This is how we know.  Our relationship with the brethren can be a good gauge on how our relationship with God is doing.  Scripture is clear about the fact that if we hate our brother, we can't claim to love God. Hate of course is a strong word. But there is no middle ground between love and hate. If we don't love the brethren the way we should, let's be honest with ourselves here, the lack of love is a display of hate. This is how we know.

This is how we know. So tonight, ask yourself the two questions I posed. Do you love God? If so, examine your relationship with the brethren. While emotions are involved in love. Love is more of a choice and an action then it is emotional or physical. At the writing of this devo, a really good friend of mine who is a sister in Christ told me I was awesome. (Not boasting by the way and THANKS ASHLEY! YOU ARE AWESOME TOO!). But it's little compliments like that make the difference between loving someone and hating them. This is how we know.

This is how we know. So this week go out of your way to love the brethren by saying a kind word to them or helping them out of feeling down. Do you love God? Well this is how we know. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS! AND THANKS AGAIN ASHLEY FOR YOUR ENCOURAGING WORDS!