¹⁶ We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister^[f] in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

¹⁸ Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. ¹⁹ Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. ²⁰ Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

²¹ Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. ²² And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

²³ And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.²⁴ Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

1 John 3:16-24

Dear God, I’m going to be preaching for the local Methodist church one week from today, filling in for a pastor friend who is on sabbatical. This has been a weird little season for me because, before March, I had only ever preached in one church service and one funeral. Now, in a two-month period, I will have preached three times to two different churches.

I thought I would start going through the verses that will be the readings for next Sunday’s service and see where they take me. For this service, my pastor friend asked me to talk about the need for all of us to give of ourselves to our neighbors. Since I work for a nonprofit and have spoken in front of many groups, this is something I’ve certainly talked about before, but I want to be sensitive to what your Holy Spirit might have to say to this particular group on this particular day so I’m going to go through the scripture readings for the United Methodist Church for this day. This passage from 1 John seems to fit well with the message the pastor wants me to share.

Talk is cheap (verse 18). It’s easy to say I love a relative or friend. It’s easy to say, “I’ll pray for you.” But what action follows that up? Is there real prayer? Is there a sharing of my resources of treasure and time (verse 17)? Will I take less so that my neighbor can have something they need? Will I be inconvenienced for another?

Father, I’m going to be spending a lot of time on these thoughts this week. I’ll go through the other passages they have scheduled for next Sunday. I’ll go through a few of my own. I’ll even bring in a quote from Chuck Colson. This week, I want to immerse myself in the idea of worshiping you and becoming more Christlike through the offering of my life to the world, even if it is as my own expense. That’s where true discipleship and growth happens.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen