The Love Challenge (Part Three)

We are busy discussing love, mainly from the writings of John in 1 John 4. 

1 John 4:9: In this the love of God was made manifest (shown) among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

This can be interpreted in two ways, among others:

1. God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might LIVE through him. Could this be a self-centred interpretation? I want to live, so Jesus came so I could live. The focus is on me.
2. God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live THROUGH HIM. Could this be seen as the God-centred interpretation? I live like Jesus did, under His guidance, through Him. He lives and does things in a certain way, so I live and do things the way He does it. As long as I remain in Jesus, I will be what the Lord wants me to be. John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

What does it mean to remain in Jesus? We can compare it to the
children's game that many of us played, called Follow My Leader. The leader makes certain movements, and the followers copy them. It can also be compared to a small child imitating a parent or a parent showing the little child how things are done. As long as we remain near Jesus and have our focus set on what He's doing, we will bear fruit. If we are distracted by money, material things, and concerns about life, we are not even aware of what He is doing. This is when many fruitless deeds, born from human effort, start to show.

Jesus is love, so if we want to be love as we, who are born in God, are meant to be, we need to stay in Jesus, having our focus trained on His every Word and action. He is a Master of the subject of love, so if we learn from the Master, we will master it.

Here are a few guidelines on how to remain in Jesus.

1. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways (Proverbs 3:5-6). Act as if the Lord exists and waits in anticipation for you to call on Him. Have you ever seen a small child ignoring their parents' presence and availability to help?

2. Always pass glory and credit to Him. John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Without Jesus, we can do nothing, so why take the glory and credit for what we have done? It belongs to Him. Acknowledging that you need Him is a statement that you remain in Him.

3. Ask, seek, and knock. Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Showing you dependence on the Lord makes you depend on Him and remain in Him.

4. Act when a thought, that might be from the Lord, enters your mind. Years ago, as a young believer, I asked a more mature believer how one knows that a thought came from the Lord. He told me that people, in themselves, are unable to be good and unselfish. We are inherently selfish. So, if a thought to do something good for unselfish reasons crosses your mind, it is from the Lord

5. Spend time with Him. Walk with Him. Discuss everything with Him. Imitate what you know about Him. That way, He rubs off on you and you become like Him.

6. Choose to ignore distractions that would hinder your intimacy with Him. Materialism, self-centredness, and human pleasure are used by Satan to keep us busy so we don't have time for and interest in intimacy with the Lord. Satan tempted Eve and Jesus with the same three things: a lust for power and fame, a lust for riches, and a lust after the pleasures of life. He uses these same three things to keep our attention away from intimacy with the Lord.

One of the benefits, as well as a test of whether you are in Christ, is mentioned in John 15:7: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." If you are in Christ, you won't ask things outside of God's will, and then you are guaranteed to receive it. This promise is confirmed again in 1 John 5:14-15: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." If my prayers aren't answered, I always search my heart and life for where I am out of Christ and His will.

1 John 4:9 states that the love of God was made manifest in the privilege we received to live through Jesus. The fact that He is available to serve us is an act of love.

How about you and me? Is our love made manifest through our service to our neighbours?