Greater Than, 1 John 3:11-4:6

When I begin to peel back the layers on a quality like love, it’s tempting to hold it out like a specimen to analyze so I don’t have to hold it up like a mirror to my heart. I’d rather make notations on the facts about it than note how I’ve failed at it. Jesus’ standard for love is high. His love gave life instead of taking it, extended life instead of destroying it. 

The first set of brothers got love all wrong from the beginning, and their relationship ended in murder. Maybe we think Cain’s example of hate is extreme, and we protest, “I would lay down my life!” Peter announced he would do that for Jesus, yet in the warmth of a fire, three times denied even knowing Jesus. Isn’t it easier to love through hypothetical claims and flowery words instead of through personal sacrifice? It’s certainly more convenient for me to send an email with love than to make a meal with love.  

When I don’t measure up to Jesus’ love, my heart condemns me. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words explains that condemn means, “to know something against”. Your heart might have stored away something against you that no one else knows and you hope no one ever discovers: hateful thoughts toward someone, a heart closed off from someone's need, unloving actions against someone.  Maybe your heart occasionally regurgitates the mess it holds against you, and you choke it down, uncertain how God might respond if all came out. 

But God doesn’t just “know something against” you; He knows all the things, just like He knew Peter before and after his denial. God is greater than your heart. 

He counted all your sins that condemned Jesus, and His forgiveness tips the scales in your favor. His forgiveness is greater, so we confess what our heart condemns. 

What he says about you carries more weight than the accusations of your heart. His Word is greater, so we believe His truth, not our heart's lies. 

He knows everything regarding your life and still didn’t withhold His life. His love is greater, so we receive it in place of condemnation. 

Jesus gave Peter a way to act on his love: “Feed My sheep”, He said. Put love in action to silence condemnation. Active love consoles an accusing heart, because it’s evidence of the greater love on the inside. If love like this was easy and natural, it wouldn't need to be commanded, and we wouldn't need God's help.

Perhaps in addition to accusations from the inside, you face assaults from the outside. There may be people in your life who are anti-Christ, claiming He isn’t really God in the flesh, like you’ve been told. Sadly, their opposition comes as no surprise, since the world crucified the One we follow. But God is not only greater than your heart, God is also greater than the one who is in the world. His Spirit in you is greater than the presence of darkness around you. 

Do you feel like He's not there or not listening? The starting point for a healthy relationship with God is to follow His first and foremost commands: trust in Jesus, and love one another. Even our private prayers to Him are inseparably intertwined with living obediently to Him in these ways.  But if we’ve ignored these two commands which He has already clearly spoken, why would He speak any further in response to our prayers? 

We’ll keep holding Jesus’ love up like a mirror to our hearts, because no matter how far short we fall, God is greater. 

For John’s record of Jesus and Peter, see John 13:37,38; 15:13; 18:17-27; 21:15-17