True Love, the Best Gift God Can Give Us
Supreme love for God and unselfish love for one another—this is the best gift our heavenly Father can bestow. This love is not an impulse but a divine principle. It is found only in the heart where Jesus reigns. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Love modifies the character, governs the impulses and passions, and ennobles the affections. This love sweetens the life and spreads a refining influence on all around.ULe 201.7
John worked to lead the believers to understand that this love, filling the heart, would control every other motive and raise those who possessed it above the corrupting influences of the world. As this love became the central power in the life, their trust and confidence in God would be complete. They could know that they would receive from Him everything they needed for their present and eternal good. “Love has been perfected among us in this,” John writes, “that we may have boldness on the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us ..., we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him” (NRSV).ULe 201.8
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Lord does not require us to do some hard thing in order to gain forgiveness. We do not need to make long, tiring pilgrimages or perform painful acts of penance to find forgiveness for our sins. “Whoever confesses and forsakes” his sin “will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).ULe 202.1
In heaven above, Christ is pleading for His church—those for whom He paid the redemption price of His blood. Neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God, not because we hold Him so firmly, but because He holds us so securely. If our salvation depended on our own efforts, we could not be saved, but it depends on the One who is behind all the promises. Our grasp on Him may seem weak, but as long as we stay united to Him, no one can pluck us out of His hand.ULe 202.2
As the years went by and the number of believers grew, John worked even more faithfully and earnestly. Satan’s delusions existed everywhere. By misrepresentation and falsehood, Satan’s agents tried to stir up opposition against the doctrines of Christ, and as a result arguments and heresies were threatening the church. Some who professed Christ claimed that His love released them from obedience to the law of God. On the other hand, many taught that merely keeping the law, without faith in the blood of Christ, was enough to save them. Some held that Christ was a good man but denied His divinity. Some, living in their sins, were bringing heresies into the church. Many people were being led into skepticism and false teaching.ULe 202.3