19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (NIV)
Self-examination is what this chapter of 1 John is all about. John has urged us to “test the spirits” and to love one another. Now the apostle John continues along those same lines, especially about love. And the more we see the need to spend more time in God’s word, the more we see the need to spend more time in prayer—the more we see the need to examine ourselves. We must test the spirits, but we must also test ourselves.
When we think about repentance, about testing ourselves, we hopefully see our sin for what it is, sweeping out that sin in confession and being cleansed of that sin in the speaking of forgiveness, the absolution. Do we think of this as preparing the way for the Lord in our hearts? In this sense, is the Christian’s life always in the season of Advent? Is God always only coming? Is he never here in us?
When we get the house ready for a guest, we do things to prepare. We make sure there are clean sheets on the guest bed. We make sure there’s enough extra food. We vacuum under the couch. Those of us with little children have some picking up to do.
But God isn’t just on the way. He’s already here. You have faith in your heart—and God is with us. Repentance isn’t just a matter of sweeping out old sins before God gets here. Repentance is about sweeping out old sins because God is already here. That is our relationship with God as Christians. He is already here, among us, in us—in you. And part of loving him is showing that love in how we treat each other. Maybe you won’t heal a blind man this week. But you will talk to your friend, your spouse, your child, your brother or sister—How do we show our love for God in our love for each other? We show it in patience, in caring, in understanding.
We also remember that the time when we didn’t show patience, caring; understanding—those sins are paid for in Jesus. And just as he has forgiven us, we need to forgive each other. We have peace in the forgiveness of sins. We must not withhold that peace from each other.
What does it mean, that God lives in us, and we live in God? It means this: like a marriage, and like a friendship, we work at a relationship with our lord. He is here in us, blessing us. And we keep on living in him—in his forgiveness, giving the message of that forgiveness away to everyone around us. We live in him by loving each other.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
