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1 John 3:24

I have shared in the past that my family was not and still is not a very demonstrative family. We seldom say “I love you” to one another. And yet for my entire life I have known that my parents loved me, as did my sister and brother.

How could I possibly know that if we rarely said it? I knew it in the way we dealt with one another. I knew my parents loved me because of the way they sacrificed for my benefit and how they provided me with good things. They lived out their love for me.

John has a few things to say about the results of our faith. What does he say about those who obey the commands of Jesus? How do we know the Spirit of Jesus is in us?

This concluding statement in Chapter 3 can seem a little vague, but it is a powerful summation of what John is saying in the chapter. If we believe in Jesus, then we have faith in Jesus. If we have faith in Jesus, then we live in Jesus.

And what does that mean? It means that we act as Jesus acted. Our behavior is like the behavior of Jesus – we care for others, we actively try to do good for other people, we are compassionate and giving.

But to live in Jesus means that such an attitude and such behavior is not something we force ourselves to do. It may be something that does not come easily at first and so may require some force in the beginning. But when we truly begin to live in Jesus and make him a part of who we are this loving nature of ours comes naturally and flows freely.

When we have achieved that result of our faith then we will know that what John says here is true. We are living in Jesus and he is living in us. We will know that by the Spirit God has given us. We will be living out this Spirit of godliness, of tremendous and genuine love for others. It will be a natural part of who we are.

The result of faith is living faith. If we will really believe in Jesus, if we will really have faith in God, then we will live out that faith in the way we think and feel and act in all we do. Our faith will go beyond words and become the act of living.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you live out your faith?