1 John 2:3        “And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, a reminder filled my consciousness. Reminder? The evidence of Christianity.

The Book of 1 John overflows with revelation about the Christian life.  It is an outflow of God in us, not a forced striving of willpower.  We cannot do it.   We are it, or we become it.

1 John 2:3 gives the evidence of being a Christian (knowing God), which is keeping His commandments.   It is not keeping the rules but obeying from the heart.

I am stunned at the level of hate in the ‘Christian Community’ today.  There is an attempt to justify animosity.  But if Christ is “in” us, and He is love, then there is no justification.  Rather, it is evidence that we are not “in” Him. Is that Harsh?   Maybe, but biblically factual.   We never become if we allow the roots of evil to live in us.

1 John 3:14-15 reveals that love is the fruit of Christ “in” us, and hate is the poison that reveals He is not.   1 John 4:11 reveals that the lack of love toward others reveals the absence of heart love for God.  It is the difference between theory and experience.  1 John 5:1-3 reveals that the primary evidence of Christianity is LOVE for God and others.

1 John 5:4 is powerful.  That which is born of God (saved) overcomes the world. Faith (trust, confidence, surrender, and total reliance on God) is the victory that overcomes.

1 John 5:18-19 is our target.  No sin (not individual, occasional acts, but lifestyle and continuous practice).   Kept by God, making us untouchable to the enemy.  The Key:  Be transformed by love so that love flows out of us.  The evidence is that Christianity is not the religious stuff we do, but the love that flows from us!  Do we love with His love?  Do we obey as a natural outflow or forced compliance? Is there evidence of Christianity manifested in us?

May your day overflow with the love of God to you and through you!