Sunday, March 29, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 John 4-5
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 37
Key Verse
1 John 5:1 — “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.”
Devotional Thought
On this Lord’s Day, John’s first epistle asks something of us that the world finds strange: that we test what we hear. “Believe not every spirit,” the aged apostle writes, “but try the spirits whether they are of God.” The test he gives is not a feeling but a fact — does the spirit confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh? Every voice, every teacher, every thought that would claim our allegiance must answer to the incarnate Son. And John does not leave us trembling before that test. “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in the believer, and He is not outmatched.
From that confidence flows the great theme of these chapters: love. Not love as sentiment, but love as evidence of new birth. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” And then the command that searches us: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” The love of God is not a private treasure to be hoarded but a river that must flow. And where it flows, fear recedes. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” The believer need not dread the day of judgment, because “as he is, so are we in this world” — we stand in Christ’s own righteousness, and we have his promise that “he that hath the Son hath life.”
Psalm 37 meets us in the same register. David counsels the anxious heart: “Fret not thyself because of evildoers.” The wicked flourish like grass, but grass is cut down. The meek inherit the earth. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and though he fall, he is not utterly cast down. Here is the same quiet confidence John commends — not passive resignation, but trust that acts: “Trust in the LORD, and do good.” And here is the same love: “the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.”
As spring breaks across the land and the church turns toward Holy Week, these chapters set our feet on solid ground. The world around us lies in wickedness, John says plainly, and yet we are of God, and we know the true God. So keep yourselves from idols — from every lesser trust that would crowd out the Son. The victory that overcomes the world is not our strength but our faith: faith in the One who came by water and blood, who heard our prayers, who gave us eternal life. Fretting accomplishes nothing; love accomplishes everything, for God is love.
Reflection
- When you examine the voices you trust most — teachers, media, even your own inner reasoning — do they confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, or have you grown comfortable with spirits that never mention Him?
- John says the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Who is the brother or sister in your life right now whom God is asking you to love in action rather than in word only?
Prayer
Father, we thank You that You first loved us and sent Your only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world, and we rest in that. Lord, we confess that we have fretted over the prosperity of the wicked and grown slow to love. Cast out our fear with Your perfect love. Teach us to trust in You and do good, to commit our way unto You, and to wait patiently for Your deliverance. Keep us from idols, and let our love for one another prove that we dwell in You, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 37:1 — “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”