How Do I Know If I Love God? (1 John 2-3)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Do you actually love God?

In 1 John 2-3, John deals with the topic of love and contrasts love for the world with a proper love for others. In 1 John 2:15-17, he writes:

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Unlike the writings of Paul, John tends to belabor points, continuing to bring his readers back to what he is trying to convey in the hopes that his message will stick with them. His main point? “Do not love the world.” It’s a bit of a strange juxtaposition. On one hand, we are to live in the world, but we are not to be of the world or embrace that which is in the world.

We are to place our hope in God and avoid sin at all costs. John even goes as far as to say in 1 John 3:6 that everyone who remains in God does not sin, and “everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.” By using the present tense, the point John continues to drive home to his audience is this: Christians do not make a practice of sinning.

It’s not that we haven’t sinned or that we will never sin, but that we do not live in a state of sin. There is a major difference between committing a sin and living in a state of sin. It’s one thing to get angry at our spouse and ask for forgiveness. It’s another to repeatedly verbally abuse them every day. It’s one thing to make a dishonest business deal and then go back and clear it up. It’s another to make dishonestly a lifestyle of everyday operation.

John has some pretty strong words for the person who lives in a state of sin. He says they are of the devil. Instead, those who follow God avoid sin and love others. 1 John 3:10 says, “This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.”