Living to love with Jesus produces confidence before God

1 John 4:16-17 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. If God abides in His children and He is love, then the only thing that makes sense is that His love controls them and continues to move through them. Why? Because they live in His love. It’s central to their identity as children of God. Living to love with Jesus gives us confidence in the day of judgment because the only way love can complete its course through us is if we abide in God’s love. If we abide in God’s love, then God, who is love, abides in us and loves through us as we live through Him. Wow! What a comfort and assurance we have if we see the life and love of Jesus Christ manifested and completed in our lives. Abiding in God and He in us doesn’t happen as a result of our trying hard to live for Jesus, it is the work of the Holy Spirit as John wrote in vs. 13. “He has given us of His Spirit.” Having received the Holy Spirit, the true children of God believe and receive the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, which is the way God’s love is perfected with them. The person who experiences the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in his life does not fear death or the day of judgment. He knows God loves him, has cleansed him of all sin, and as Paul wrote to the Colossians, will be presented holy and blameless and beyond reproach before God (Col. 1:22). This is a great encouragement to live to love with Jesus isn’t it? Our confidence is that we are fulfilling our purpose in this world just as Jesus is. Jesus lives to love with His Father and with us. We live to love with Jesus. As John wrote, “We may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” Jesus abides in the Father’s love, and the Father abides in Him. The children of God abide in Jesus, and Jesus abides in them. This wonderful work of the Holy Spirit that unites us in love with God and with each other is the essence of living to love with Jesus. These verses are meant to encourage us to make loving with Jesus the purpose of our lives each day. Everything else is subordinate to that primary purpose for life. We love and glorify God by living to love with Him in this world.