LWCF

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
-1 John 4:10

Our relationship with God was never, and is never, contingent on how we feel about Him. We learn in Paul's letter to the Romans that Christ demonstrated His love towards us while we were still in our sin by dying for us.* So then, we come to the paradox of being steeped in sin and wickedness - yet in love with God. In this we see that even our bravest attempts at faithfulness prove tenuous at best. Can it be? Any love we have, or the capacity thereof is only truly gifted to us and brought to fruition by the Father above. Apart from His love we are all counterfeits - pretending a behavior we can never fully grasp apart from Christ. 

*Romans 5:8

​"For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things." -1 John 3:20

An accusing heart is one of the most pervasive obstacles preventing people from committing their souls to Christ's care. We feel like we are simply not good enough. Our own hearts condemn us and whisper lies to us continually - even after we have come to Christ. This is why it is so crucial that we remain anchored in God's word, that we remain focused on what He has promised us. One of those promises is that He is ever faithful, even when we are not.* God's word tells us, "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?"* So why should we trust our accusing hearts while we are in the palm of the Almighty? We shouldn't. We ought to trust Christ who knows all things, including every ounce of our being. He is faithful and steadfast and truer than our hearts will ever be. He is greater.

*2 Timothy 2:13 
*Jeremiah 17:9

"Whoever denies the son does not have the Father either; he who acknkowledges the Son has the Father also."

-1 John 2:23

The foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ - the Son - reconciling our debts in His body as directed and pre-destined by the Father. A prevailing sentiment of our time is the idea that one can have God without Christ. This often manifests itself in questions like, "don't all roads lead to God?" or "why do I need Jesus to get to God?" John's answer is that the Father and the Son exist in unity - God and Jesus Christ are one. They are inextricably linked, as Christ taught, "...no one comes to the Father but by me."*

John 14:6

"I write to you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." -1 John 2:12

The forgiveness imparted to us through the death of Christ and proved through the resurrection is not intended to assuage our guilty conscience in a self-gratifying manner. Indeed, our forgiveness is not FOR us.  The forgiveness that we receive is based on the fact that our Holy God promised to redeem mankind through His Son and accomplished that promise on the cross; "...Let God be true but every man a liar!"*  We are saved for His eternal glory - to prove Jehovah strong, and faithful, and true -- for His name's sake.  Everything else is incidental to that fact.

*Romans 3:4