BIBLE LESSON
“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.” — 1 John 4:15.
God offers everyone the opportunity to live within God’s circle of love and influence, and anyone can invite God into their lives. No matter how much someone has sinned or rebelled against God, God has made their reconciliation with Him possible by sending “His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Living daily and forever with God’s approval is possible for anyone who “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God.” God is love, and God showed His love for the world when He sent His one and only Son into the world. Jesus taught and demonstrated the way of love; and then Jesus made the supreme sacrifice when He died on the cross in behalf of sinners, enemies of God, becoming “the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). Believers can “know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16). Through faith in Jesus, God has graciously given believers His Spirit to live within them. Through faith in Jesus, God makes it possible for believers to love others as God loves them. Believers in Jesus have “been born of God and know God”; therefore, they can show forth the love of God for others (1 John 4:7). Those born of God are like Jesus, and the world should be able to see the love of God for all people within them. Because God is love and Jesus is their Savior, believers can live with confidence that they will have nothing to fear on the Day of Judgment. The perfect love of Jesus within them drives out all fear of punishment from God.