Many have experienced intense pain due to people who were supposed to love them. Sometimes, the people we love say hurtful things, mistreat, or even abuse us. Some walk away. Others slowly drift apart from us. Our experiences with love cause us, at times, to question God’s love for us. As we recognize our insufficiency and sin before God, we begin to question whether or not God will walk away as well.

As John closes out 1 John chapter 3, he gives us a great gift in the form of assurance that God’s love towards us will never cease or fail. Often, when we struggle with our confidence and contentment towards Christ, we pull away from the church and others. We begin to draw inwards and question if the church is for us. However, this is a mistake, for John informs us that our love and service for others brings assurance that our relationship with God is genuine. He is not saying that we are saved by love, but that love is the evidence of salvation.

Love assures us of our relationship with God in two ways. First, love assures us that God will not throw us aside. In essence, John says that we can persuade our hearts that God is content with us when our hearts condemn us. Romans 8:1 reminds us that God will not condemn us because Christ’s blood covers our sins. As you struggle with sin, and as this sin begins to cause you to question your salvation, you can have confidence that God will not throw you out.

Second, this love gives assurance for us to keep his commandments. John states that we keep his commandments and then boils it down to the one commandment that guarantees our salvation: Believe in the name of the Son of God, Jesus. This causes us to love others. Love God, and love others. You cannot love God without loving others. And God’s love grants us the power to love others. This is important because we all have those we struggle to love. Yet because God’s love never fails, we can love others as His love empowers us.

As you question God’s love for you, it is vital that you not pull away from others but reengage. As you demonstrate love for others through God’s power, this action assures your heart of God’s love for you. Service for others is not optional because this is how we demonstrate God’s love to others and ourselves. So, how are you serving others?