This World's Goods and Others

Yesterday we shared together the words of the apostle John where he let us know how we can know that God loves us. God desires fellowship with all of us, and His demonstration of love toward us can be clearly seen by sending Jesus to die on the cross. If we should ever doubt whether God loves us, all we must do is look to the cross. Today John turns his attention toward the demonstration of our love toward others. He writes in First John chapter three and verse seventeen:

But whoever has this world's good, and sees his brother has need, and shuts up his bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwells the love of God in him?

How do we know we love others? John gives us a clue in this verse. First, do we have this world's goods? Do we have plenty, and in reality could give some of our worldly goods away? Have we been so blessed that rather than possessing a shirt or two, dress or two, pants or shoes or two, we have an abundance? Could we give a few things away and really not make a dent in our supply?

Secondly, do we ever see “brothers” or sisters who are in need? Are there people who live in our world who genuinely are impoverished, neglected or abused who could use our help. There were in John's day as well as ours those who cannot help their state. They would willingly work if they could. They would earn if they were able. Their state is beyond their control, and they are truly in need. The question is, “do we see them?”

Thirdly, John talks about shutting up our “bowels of compassion from him”. The bowels were used in Bible times to describe the deepest of feelings. Today we would probably use “deep in our gut” or “deep within our hearts” as similar metaphors, but in the days of John it was “bowels”. The question is, do we have deep, meaningful, caring and loving compassion toward those who are in need, or do we hide from them? For example, do we hurry by those television commercials that show starving children in fly infested areas of the world? Do we strongly rebut suggestions that we go to another country to help those who are in need? Do we resist even traveling across our towns to help those in need in our own cities? If so, these are demonstrations of “shutting up” our deepest levels of compassion toward others.

Finally, what is the question that John asks at the end of this verse? “How dwells the love of God in him?” In other words, the demonstration that we have the love of God dwelling within us is that it is very natural to look upon the needful state of others and desire to help. Not only will there be a desire, but there will be actions to fulfill that desire. The Bible is very clear about those who abuse the compassion of others, and God will deal sharply with them, but those who are truly in need will be seen by people who have the love of God dwelling within them. Those who have God's love dwelling within them will be as God is and are ready to help anyone in need with the worldly goods that have first been given by God to them.

Next time we will look at effective and ineffective love toward others, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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