1 John 3:19-22

1 John 3:19-22

And in this we will know that we are out of the truth and we will be confident in our hearts before Him: that if our heart should judge us to be bad, God is greater than our heart and He knows everything.  Beloved, if our heart should not judge us to be bad we have confidence before God and we receive from Him whatever we should ask because we keep His commandments and we do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

We need to remember the context of this passage.  John has been talking about obedient to God, submission to Him, and demonstrating that dynamic of life through our love for one another.  In this context John gives us a piece of advice.  If our heart condemns us, we should listen to it.  We know when are being disobedient.  We may not know it in the moment, but we know it.  God has placed His Spirit within us to speak into our hearts and convict us.  This is especially true when it come to loving the people of God around us.  We know when we should love and do not.  We need to listen to God and repent in those times.

Do you always listen to your heart and God speaking through it?  Why can it be difficult to experience conviction?

Second Thought:

On the other hand, if we do follow God’s commandments and are obedient, we should have confidence before God!  If we do what God asks of us, then we should celebrate!  Our hearts are good at convicting us when we do not obey, but it should be equally good at causing us to celebrate when we are obedient before God!  In fact, John goes even further to say that in those moments we do receive what we ask for because our heart and mind is in union with God.

Do you always listen to your heart when it speaks in joy and celebration at times of your obedience?  What does this feel like to you?  How do you know when you are obedient?

Third Thought:

Before we move to the verses for tomorrow, let’s go back and pick up a small area that I previously skipped.  Even when our heart convicts us, we know that God is bigger than our heart.  The reality is that we cannot be perfect.  God knows this.  That’s why He sent His Son.  So yes, we should listen to the conviction that comes through our heart as the Holy Spirit speaks.  But at the same time we should be careful to not let our heart be overburdened with our failure, either.  God is bigger than our failure.  He always will be.

Are you prone to beating yourself up more than you deserve over your failures?  Why is this important to keep in check?  what does it mean to you to know that God is bigger than your failure?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 John 3:23-24