Proof of Your Christian Faith

~ 1 John Tells Where to Look ~   

If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

The book of 1 John provides examples of where to find the evidence.

Do you love not only God but His people?  ~  The attitude of love, or lack of love, for your fellow Christians is a test of character. “We know that we have passed out of death into life by the fact that we love our fellow Christians” (1 John 3:14). “Let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (4:7). “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children, too” (5:1). “This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (3:11).

Do you seek to live in obedience to God’s Word?  ~  Your actions which show victory over sin and the old nature are a test of your confession. “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence”(1 John 3:18-19). 

A functional Christian does not continue in habits of sin. “Whoever has been born of God does not sin” (3:9). “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him” (5:18). 

Christians who are fulfilling their calling have gained victory over the world and its allures.  “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (2:15-17).

“Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (5:4-5). 

The bottom line for a Christian who is following his operator’s manual is a righteous life before God. “If you know—perceive and are sure—that Christ is absolutely righteous (conforming to the Father's will in purpose, thought, and action), you may also know (be sure) that everyone who regularly practices righteousness (and therefore is conformed to God’s will) is born of God” (2:29).  

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW