Where do you speak from and who listens to you?

1 John 4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. In the previous verse, we learned that the antichrist was foretold by Jesus and His disciples and is already in the world. People who are not from God, are from the world and look to the spirit of antichrist as their power source. In this verse John told his readers how to test the wind or spirit of these people by telling them where the wind comes from and where it’s blowing people. The wind comes from the world; “they speak as from the world.” And as you would expect, the wind blows in the direction of the world; “the world listens to them.” The discernment test is this: Where do you speak from and who listens to you? When we talk about living to love with Jesus, we aren’t speaking about a love that is from the world, a natural love. The world’s kind of love is all about feelings—making people feel loved and accepted no matter what they do. Self-expression is from the world and the world loves to hear that message. To the world, it is a message of freedom and is for the glory of man. When we talk about loving with Jesus, we are talking about a supernatural love that can only come from Jesus Christ. His love cannot come from those who are in the world—from the antichrist spirit. It’s not about feelings, it is a choice of the will toward the highest good of another in the power of the Spirit for the glory of God. We aim not to express ourselves, but to express the mind and love of Christ. Today, may we be encouraged to love with God’s kind of love. Let’s not think that we are loving if we make people in the world feel good and approved by their efforts in the flesh. That’s not in their highest good. Their highest good is to glorify God by being satisfied in the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, who in His body, gave Himself for them, that they might live in Him and express His love and light.