CONFIDENCE WITH GOD
1 JOHN 3:18-23 NKJV
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Confidence is a good thing. We want confidence in our sports teams. We want our leaders to have confidence. And we certainly want our children to be confident. But how often have we pursued confidence with God?
John, the author of this letter, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us the path to confidence with God. But it's not a direct route. Confidence with God begins with love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Love is more than words. The divine kind of love that we are instructed to walk in is visible in our actions. Treating others with this unselfish love is the way we know we are on the right track. This love assures us of the fact that we are walking in the truth. And this love is what assures our hearts before God.
Verses 20-21 are big revelations. If our heart condemns us, notice John did not say if God condemns us. But if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and we are not fooling Him. If our own heart knows we are off, then God certainly knows. But if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God.
Isn't it good to know that God is not the One condemning us? We know in our heart when we are on the wrong path, and we know when our heart is clear. And if we are clear in our hearts, we are clear with God. And if we are clear with God, then we have confidence with Him.
And if we have confidence with Him, then we are in a position to receive from Him what we ask because this confidence flows over into our prayers. We are confident with Him because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing to Him.
John boils keeping His commandments and pleasing God down to believing in Jesus and loving one another. At face value, it sounds simple, but it is one of the challenges of our walk with the Lord. We have thought it easier to love God than to love His children, but we can not separate the two. One of the ways we show our love for Him is by loving those who belong to Him.
APPLICATION
Confidence with God is one of the subjects that we can't hear enough about. Because our Christian life is about our relationship with the Lord, and confidence in a relationship is a powerful thing. Think about the relationships in your life in which you have a high level of confidence. That confidence is great in the good times and essential in the tough times. And so it is with God. We want to pursue whatever it takes to keep our hearts assured and clear before Him. This will make us a blessing to others and will position us to receive from our Heavenly Father.
Just imagine what life would be like if you had a great confidence toward God. Nothing but good!
PRAYER
Lord, thank You that confidence with You is not just possible but is attainable. I want to walk with You and live with a clear, confident heart.