When You Notice It, Nurture It
Sometimes we are asked to reset passwords. So, we make a new one, immediately forget it, and then live in a perpetual state of being locked out of our own accounts. What if that’s how people experience their relationship with God? Seeing access to God as fragile, like one mistake logs them out.
When you’re not sure if you’re in, your mind starts to wander, and you start to wonder.
And in a world where we don’t know who to trust, where everything feels unstable, where things are changing really fast, it’s easy to start living like our standing with God is fragile. The problem becomes when we think that our relationship with God is fragile. This leads to Christians who know how to do things for God but don’t actually know Him.
We need to know who we are and whose we are.
When most of us leave the house, we leave prepared. We don’t pack things hoping for a problem, we pack because we understand the reality.
1 John 2
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
John is not saying, “Don’t sin, but if you do, it’s okay.” He’s saying, “When you sin, not if, you have an advocate.”
Jesus doesn’t argue your innocence; He presents His righteousness.
If our hope is built on proving our innocence, we all lose. Instead, Scripture says we have an advocate. And our advocate doesn’t argue the quality of our record, He presents the sufficiency of Himself.
And He doesn’t say, “They’re innocent.” He says, “I have paid!” Our assurance with God isn’t grounded in how well our week went, whether our repentance felt sincere, or whether we’ve managed to keep our spiritual streak alive. It’s not about anything we do.
Our assurance is in Jesus alone!
John’s saying the atoning work of Christ isn’t just for people like you. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus doesn’t just rescue people we relate to; it reaches toward people we struggle to understand.
This doesn’t mean everyone automatically receives salvation, but it is saying that the provision of Christ is not limited by our categories. It’s a level playing ground at the foot of the cross, and His love is for all people, despite what we may think.
1 John 2
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.
The Word of God tells us that assurance in our relationship with God comes from doing what He commands. It comes from a life that bends towards obedience daily. Because if anyone says they know God and are a follower of Jesus but don’t do what He says, what does the Word of God call that person? A liar.
If you’re going to claim it, you need to live it.
There has to be action in your life that proves it. We all want to know we’re loved and accepted by God. We want maximum assurance that we are saved, but we want that assurance with minimal surrender on our part.
And John’s saying you can’t have one without the other. You’ll know that you are following God if you’re obeying God’s Word. Not perfectly or flawlessly, but genuinely, progressively, and willingly.
Obedience isn’t how we earn salvation; obedience is the evidence of salvation.
Ok, so how did Jesus live? What does that look like?
1 John 2
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.
To live as Jesus did means to embody the Love that God has for us.
John 13
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Assurance doesn’t come from checking a spiritual checklist; it comes from asking, “Is my life increasingly reflecting the love, humility, and surrender of Jesus?” That’s how we know we’re walking in Him.
1 John 2
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.
John takes something we tend to keep abstract (love) and grounds it in relationship. Most of us don’t think we hate anyone. We define hatred in extreme categories and instinctively assume it doesn’t apply.
Hatred is more subtle and present.
Our version of hatred is often quiet, respectable, and aligns with whoever is in power. It’s a settled decision in our heart that other people aren’t our problem. That is NOT our call.
Hatred isn’t violence – it’s love withdrawn.
When we regularly live in ways that refuse love towards people we live in proximity to, we’re not being neutral. We are making an active, relational decision. We are engaging in hate.
Love looks like Jesus. It’s sacrificial, initiating, costly, patient, truthful, cross-shaped, and it doesn’t have an excuse. Scripture and Jesus don’t give us that permission.
When you notice it – nurture it.
When you notice someone God has placed in proximity – someone overlooked, frustrating, inconvenient, different, hurting, or hard to love – don’t drift past them. Nurture it. Love doesn’t grow accidentally. Love grows when we respond to what God places in front of us.
When you’re not sure if you’re in, your mind starts to wander, and you start to wonder.
- Am I still accepted?
- Am I forgiven?
- Have I gone too far?
And in a world where we don’t know who to trust, where everything feels unstable, where things are changing really fast, it’s easy to start living like our standing with God is fragile. The problem becomes when we think that our relationship with God is fragile. This leads to Christians who know how to do things for God but don’t actually know Him.
We need to know who we are and whose we are.
When most of us leave the house, we leave prepared. We don’t pack things hoping for a problem, we pack because we understand the reality.
1 John 2
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
John is not saying, “Don’t sin, but if you do, it’s okay.” He’s saying, “When you sin, not if, you have an advocate.”
Jesus doesn’t argue your innocence; He presents His righteousness.
If our hope is built on proving our innocence, we all lose. Instead, Scripture says we have an advocate. And our advocate doesn’t argue the quality of our record, He presents the sufficiency of Himself.
And He doesn’t say, “They’re innocent.” He says, “I have paid!” Our assurance with God isn’t grounded in how well our week went, whether our repentance felt sincere, or whether we’ve managed to keep our spiritual streak alive. It’s not about anything we do.
Our assurance is in Jesus alone!
John’s saying the atoning work of Christ isn’t just for people like you. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus doesn’t just rescue people we relate to; it reaches toward people we struggle to understand.
This doesn’t mean everyone automatically receives salvation, but it is saying that the provision of Christ is not limited by our categories. It’s a level playing ground at the foot of the cross, and His love is for all people, despite what we may think.
1 John 2
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.
The Word of God tells us that assurance in our relationship with God comes from doing what He commands. It comes from a life that bends towards obedience daily. Because if anyone says they know God and are a follower of Jesus but don’t do what He says, what does the Word of God call that person? A liar.
If you’re going to claim it, you need to live it.
There has to be action in your life that proves it. We all want to know we’re loved and accepted by God. We want maximum assurance that we are saved, but we want that assurance with minimal surrender on our part.
And John’s saying you can’t have one without the other. You’ll know that you are following God if you’re obeying God’s Word. Not perfectly or flawlessly, but genuinely, progressively, and willingly.
Obedience isn’t how we earn salvation; obedience is the evidence of salvation.
Ok, so how did Jesus live? What does that look like?
1 John 2
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.
To live as Jesus did means to embody the Love that God has for us.
John 13
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Assurance doesn’t come from checking a spiritual checklist; it comes from asking, “Is my life increasingly reflecting the love, humility, and surrender of Jesus?” That’s how we know we’re walking in Him.
1 John 2
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.
John takes something we tend to keep abstract (love) and grounds it in relationship. Most of us don’t think we hate anyone. We define hatred in extreme categories and instinctively assume it doesn’t apply.
Hatred is more subtle and present.
- Dismissal – someone’s point of view isn’t worth your time
- Contempt – reducing someone to a stereotype so you don’t have to see them as human
- Indifference – deciding someone else’s pain isn’t convenient for you
- Dehumanizing language – it’s speaking about people as problems, enemies, and categories instead of image bearers of God who Jesus died for
Our version of hatred is often quiet, respectable, and aligns with whoever is in power. It’s a settled decision in our heart that other people aren’t our problem. That is NOT our call.
Hatred isn’t violence – it’s love withdrawn.
When we regularly live in ways that refuse love towards people we live in proximity to, we’re not being neutral. We are making an active, relational decision. We are engaging in hate.
Love looks like Jesus. It’s sacrificial, initiating, costly, patient, truthful, cross-shaped, and it doesn’t have an excuse. Scripture and Jesus don’t give us that permission.
When you notice it – nurture it.
When you notice someone God has placed in proximity – someone overlooked, frustrating, inconvenient, different, hurting, or hard to love – don’t drift past them. Nurture it. Love doesn’t grow accidentally. Love grows when we respond to what God places in front of us.
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