1 John 4:13–21

Read the passage.

When we are regenerated, the Holy Spirit begins to live within us, and He illumines our minds so that we know the truth of the Father and the Son. Therefore we can know that the Father sent the Son into the world, and why, on a personal level. This is how we experience the love of God, and this love works on us through sanctification. We become perfected, or completed, so that we may stand blameless on the day of judgement when Christ returns to the earth. We were guilty, but we were pardoned because Jesus paid the penalty incurred by our misdeeds. Each new day we find that there are more sins that ensnare us, but also ever-sufficient grace that keeps right with God. We will not fear when the Judge of the Earth returns to balance every account, because His perfect love will have made us perfect, just like Him. There will be no punishment for us, so we do not need to fear it.

This is the same situation for everyone who belongs to Jesus. If He loves them and us with such a great love, how can we fail to love them as well? Could we direct hatred at anyone, say that they do not deserve Jesus’s love, and not have the same accusations leveled against us? Of course, we do not deserve Jesus’s love, whether we hate the bretheren or not, but to refuse to wish the best for another who has received His love shows that we have not received it ourselves. As Jesus said, if we love Him, we will obey His commands, and one of them most certainly was “Love one another.”

Make us perfect as You are perfect. Increase our love for You and Your people every day.