Whoever Loves God Must Do This…
1 John 4 // A Devotional
Spiritual maturity is measured in obedience, not knowledge.
The problem is that we focus primarily on transferring knowledge during discipleship. It’s not because we don’t value action and obedience, but discipling for obedience is hard.
It’s easy to teach somebody a principle. It’s a lot harder to train them to do it.
Obedience > Knowledge
One way to lean into obedience is by simplifying your efforts. Stop focusing so much on the complexities of scripture, and start focusing on the simple commands of Jesus — things that are easy to understand but hard to do.
“And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:21 ESV)
The Bible is full of intricacies; however, the things that Jesus really wants you to understand are crystal clear.
Love your brother (or sister). You cannot love God if you don’t love your brother.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t study the Bible and read books by great Christian thinkers, but what would happen if you put half as much time into applying God’s Word to your life as you do in studying it?
I used to read a lot of books on prayer because I wanted to learn to pray. Sadly, none of them helped me because just reading about prayer doesn’t lead to a greater prayer life.
In the same way, reading about Jesus (through His Word or a book) will not make you more like Jesus. You have to do it. And it starts with love.
It’s easy to love Jesus when you’re alone with Him reading the Bible on a crisp morning. It’s hard to love Jesus when you’re busy and surrounded by people who are rude to you or hard to love for whatever reason.
If you love God, you must love your neighbor: simple to say, hard to do.
Our Response: Putting Feet to Faith
Near the end of Jesus’ life, He said the following:
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” (Matthew 25:35–36 ESV)
Who do you know that fits one of those categories? Or think of somebody whom you are quick to criticize and struggle to love.
Go, love them, and in doing so, you are loving Jesus.
Easy to understand; hard to do. That’s the Christian life.
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