Jesus Christ is the supreme example of love, and His supreme act of love was to lay down His life for us. He did this while we were sinners, He did this while the crowds were shouting our "crucify him", he did this while His disciples had deserted Him. He did this when there was nothing in us, nothing about us, to commend ourselves to Him.
John then immediately makes this practical for us. We should be generous with material goods to one another. Love is not just about feelings, it is not sentimentality. True love shows itself in selfless actions.
When false teachings come they seek to induce insecurity in people. They try to make people feel guilty. So how do we set our hearts at rest? First we remind ourselves that God knows everything, and knowing everything He sent His Son to die and rise again for us. There is no sin in our lives that God does not already know about, there is no failure in our character of which God is not already fully aware, and yet He still loves us.
However, we should seek to move on from feeling condemned. Our confidence is not based on feelings, but part of the life of Christ is freedom from condemnation. We should expect to live in times of not feeling condemned. This gives us confidence before God to receive answers to prayers.
Our faith is not academic, it is not theoretical, rather it produces fruit, it changes our lives, and our relationship with God. And our relationship with God is a living and active relationship. It involves us doing things, it also involves God doing things. We do things in response to Christ, but the wonder is that He also does things in response to us!
This applies only to those who are dedicated to God, and the root of obedience to God is faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The fruit in our own lives that we do know Him is obedience, and it is through the Spirit that we are enables to obey Him.
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