Friends, I have said this before, if Jesus could wash Judas’ feet knowing that he would betray Him to death, and then tell His disciples that “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done for you.” (John 13:15), then you and I should be able to simply love one another.
As you read today’s passage notice how immediately John contrasts believers who belong to Christ Who is love to Cain who belonged to Satan who is death. John clearly tells us that we must choose a side, and he reveals how much the sides contrast: Christ vs. Satan, light vs. darkness, love vs. hate, life vs. death (murder), righteousness vs. evil, etc. When we do not love, our hearts fill with hate and stifle the Holy Spirit, which is no different than choosing to eliminate or “murder” the Holy Spirit’s life that takes place within us. Don’t allow the devil to convince you that you would never “hate” someone and that you are not “dead living”, because when we are not loving all of our brothers and sister in Christ equally and in the likeness of Christ Himself, we are in fact being hatful within our hearts and living a life that is not in alignment with the Spirit, which equates to dead living. We all need to grow to love our brothers and sister as Christ loves each one of them. A great place to start is for us to be honest with the Holy Spirit and ask for forgiveness and guidance.
If you find yourself offended by some of the words or phasing that James uses in today’s passage, i.e. hate, dead living, or murder, tell Satan to get packing. As believers, we live for Christ, and Christ alone, and John uses these words to help us grow up in the Spirit, to be able to see clearly that there are two sides and we choose the side we align with, and it should always be the side with Christ Jesus.
1 John 3:11-17 (NLT)
Love One Another
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
Prayer: Father, we ask for Your forgiveness because we do not always love one another the way that You love each of us. Thank You, for grafting us into Your Family. Holy Spirit, we need Your wisdom, guidance, and quick conviction so that we can have a heart that is more and more like Jesus. Jesus, Your love is the example for our lives, so please help us to be more like You. We ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.