Made Righteous to Love Others

John affectionately calls his recipients “dear children” or “little children,” a term of endearment that illustrates the apostle's senior position. As a spiritual father, John loves the recipients of his letter. He describes his children walking in righteousness (1 John 2:29–4:6). Believers acquire from Christ such righteousness, the quality of living in right standing, by imputation—meaning Christ exchanged the sins of His people for His righteousness. He did so when He died on the cross. Believers have received Christ’s righteousness, making them holy in God’s eyes. A Christian receives this gift of righteousness by faith and appears in the sight of God as a new creation like a bride-to-be appears spotless and pure in a wedding dress. The believer’s overflow of gratitude for Christ’s redeeming work spills out in genuine love for others.

Because false teachers with a message other than the gospel had come into their church, John told his readers that Christians can distinguish righteous believers by their demonstrations of love.

Walk Righteous

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

How many times have we promised to pray for a friend’s need but never actually prayed? Words well-intended and without action can hurt a loved one. But promises fulfilled display attentiveness, care, and acceptance.

Christians abiding in God’s love and made righteous before God, John says, will help fellow believers in need, through God’s overflowing love resulting in good deeds (3:17). Affectionate words—truthful words spoken with corresponding actions of love—encourage others. Christlike gestures showing affection may include actions such as delivering a meal, listening over a cup of coffee, greeting a loved one with a sign of physical affection, or teaching the neighbors’ kids to bake homemade, chunky, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies. And actually praying when we promise to do so. Walking in Christ’s righteousness means showing our love for God on the inside by external loving actions.

Practice For Today

Ask the Spirit to guide you, and choose one person to whom you can show Christ’s love through a genuine act of kindness. Choose what you will do, and plan when you will act. Consider baking cookies, helping the person complete a chore, or delivering an encouraging hand-written note of appreciation.

Photo by Shakti Rajpurohit on Unsplash.