God's Grace Quiets Our Condemning Hearts
Daily Scripture
1 John 3:18-23
As we study 1 John, we encourage all GPS readers to daily read these verses aloud and memorize them: “Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8 (Click here to download a printable card version of these verses.)
18 Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. 19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence. 20 Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God. 22 We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Precisely because our commitment to Jesus moves us away from the habitual practice of the negative behaviors known as “sin,” the moments when we fall short of that high ideal may shake our confidence. Do we really belong to Christ after all? Nearly all of us know of times when, as 1 John put it, “our hearts condemn us.” We can give thanks that at those times God has the answer to keep us from despair and utter defeat.
- In The Message paraphrase, 1 John 3:18-20 reads, “Let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.” * In what ways can perfectionism spoil your trust? What has helped/is helping you learn to trust God’s grace more than your self-criticism?
- It’s important to honestly acknowledge your failures (cf. 1 John 1:8-10). But severe self-criticism can lead you to the foolish belief that you have higher standards for yourself than God has. “When true believers doubt their relationship with God, God overrides their self-condemnation through the community’s selfless love for each other and obedience to God’s commandments (cf. James 1:5-8; 4:8-12; Romans 8:1).” ** Are you willing to let God’s grace quiet your condemning heart?
Prayer
Lord God, I want so much to live a life that pleases you. Thank you for reminding me, often, that self-condemnation is not your will for me, for overriding my tendencies to self-doubt and even self-hatred. Amen.
GPS Insights
Mikiala Tennie
Mikiala Tennie, who serves as the Student Discipleship Program Director with Resurrection Students, wrote today’s Insight. She has nearly 20 years of ministry experience and loves encouraging others in their spiritual journey. Mikiala is blessed to be an adoptive aunt and godmother to many kiddos and lives with her 10-pound Yorkie, KiKi Okoye Tennie.
Practicing real love can be so difficult. We know how important it is to love, but it is also a tall order. It’s our highest calling as people who follow Jesus. The way we love is the biggest indicator of our relationship with Christ.
The work it takes to refrain from condemning others and to instead extend love is no easy task. The same is true when we think about ourselves. Sometimes our hearts work overtime to refrain from condemning others and yet we still condemn ourselves. I don’t know about you but because people know that I love and follow the teachings of Jesus, I can often be tempted to extend grace to others while allowing my heart to stew over my own shortcomings and imperfections. The double standard I impose on myself can be so harsh.
But in those moments, I’m reminded that God’s love is no respecter of persons. God’s love is deep and vast and never-ending. So, much like the love I extend to others, I must also extend it to myself. First John encourages us to love authentically by the way we move and exist in this world–which helps me remember that love is an action. That means that the effort I put into showing love to others–and myself… it’s in the doing… it’s in the being. It’s in the moving and it’s in the stillness.
I pray that today as you move in this world, you will love like Jesus. I pray that in the moments when you mess up and don’t quite get it right, you’ll not settle into self-criticism and shame. May you have grace enough to include yourself in every bit of the love you share with others. “This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us.” (1 John 3:23 CEB).
© 2025 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Peterson, Eugene H. The Message Numbered Edition Hardback. Navpress. Kindle Edition.
** Robert W. Wall, study note on 1 John 3:19-21 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 480 NT.
