Law-breakers are Not God Lovers

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Love and law are nicely united in this text. The word of God that we are called to obey is the law of God. When we obey it, God’s love is made complete in us—because we are living by God’s law of love.

This is pleasantly simple, and circular. What shall I do? Whatever the law says I should do. How shall I show my love for God? By obeying the law found in God’s Word. What happens when I obey God’s law? The love of God is made complete in me.

Seen in this way, the Christian life is really not mysterious. We don’t have to wonder and fret about what God’s will might be. We can find directions in the Word of God, especially in his law. We may have to examine which words apply to what we are doing, but the directions are always there for us. Does our question have to do with honesty, or sexual fidelity, or our use of time? The law of God has directives for these and other circumstances.

Do you know someone who truly seems to be full of the Spirit of Christ? I’ll bet that person isn’t a lawbreaker. I’ll bet that person has long understood that obeying God’s law is a simple and direct way of getting close to God.

What about you? Has God’s love been made complete in you?

O God, help me to obey you. Help me not to question what you might want from me when I already know it. Show me wonderful things in your law that direct me to act with love for you and others. Amen.