No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
His love perfected in us. Think about that, just what that means. The same love that God has for the world that caused Him to sacrifice His only Son, for us. We can have that love perfected in us. You can know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if we have God's love perfected in us, then our hearts will not condemn us, ever. We will have perfect confidence before God, and we will have from Him whatever we ask.
Think about that.
But how is His love to become perfected in us? By what process does God perfect His love in us? Some think that we are perfect from the very first moment we believe, and in many ways we are, in God's eyes. He must see us as perfect, otherwise we could not approach Him. But this perfection is in Christ Jesus, and it is not ours in actual fact. If we say that we have no sin, then we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Notice how he wrote, "if we say that we have no sin." God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Our only approach to God is through the perfection of Jesus Christ. Period.
But we are not perfected yet. Does anyone doubt this? Let us just say that if anyone is already perfect, that is, without sin, then they will not gain anything from these messages. I am not perfect, far from it, so far from it that I despair of ever becoming perfected in His love. But I desire to be perfected in His love, more than any other desire I have. It is a burning passion, from God.
Anyway, as we draw near to God, His light illuminates us, on the outside and even more, on the inside. In His light, we can see the truth about ourselves, and the more completely we see this truth, the more the word of the cross can work in us, putting to death the lies and hurts and deceits and every other hurtful thing that might be in us. For all of these keep us from walking in His love.
And in His presence, we come to know Him, the One who is from the beginning, the Father of all who are righteous. And as we behold Him more and more, we are changed from beholding His glory into His image, from glory to glory.
If you have this desire, answer it. Ask, seek, knock. He will open the way into His presence.
In Christ, with His love,
His love perfected in us. Think about that, just what that means. The same love that God has for the world that caused Him to sacrifice His only Son, for us. We can have that love perfected in us. You can know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if we have God's love perfected in us, then our hearts will not condemn us, ever. We will have perfect confidence before God, and we will have from Him whatever we ask.
Think about that.
But how is His love to become perfected in us? By what process does God perfect His love in us? Some think that we are perfect from the very first moment we believe, and in many ways we are, in God's eyes. He must see us as perfect, otherwise we could not approach Him. But this perfection is in Christ Jesus, and it is not ours in actual fact. If we say that we have no sin, then we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Notice how he wrote, "if we say that we have no sin." God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Our only approach to God is through the perfection of Jesus Christ. Period.
But we are not perfected yet. Does anyone doubt this? Let us just say that if anyone is already perfect, that is, without sin, then they will not gain anything from these messages. I am not perfect, far from it, so far from it that I despair of ever becoming perfected in His love. But I desire to be perfected in His love, more than any other desire I have. It is a burning passion, from God.
Anyway, as we draw near to God, His light illuminates us, on the outside and even more, on the inside. In His light, we can see the truth about ourselves, and the more completely we see this truth, the more the word of the cross can work in us, putting to death the lies and hurts and deceits and every other hurtful thing that might be in us. For all of these keep us from walking in His love.
And in His presence, we come to know Him, the One who is from the beginning, the Father of all who are righteous. And as we behold Him more and more, we are changed from beholding His glory into His image, from glory to glory.
If you have this desire, answer it. Ask, seek, knock. He will open the way into His presence.
In Christ, with His love,
