"In this we will know that out of the truth we are, and in His sight we will persuade our heart...that if our heart may be condemning us, because God is greater than our heart and He knows all."
-God is greater than our heart. And He knows all things. Unlike our heart, which is desperately sick and deceitful above all else (Jeremiah 17.9). Yes, my very own heart can and will deceive even me, the lord of the manor! I’m supposed to be the landlord! Sometimes my heart will (with the aid of accuser, of course) point a finger at me and condemn me, try and persuade me that I am NOT of the truth, that I am not truly saved and in Christ. “Crummy Christian, crummy Christian” - that’s what it says. “You did what? God can’t love you. He doesn’t love you because you did that. You’re still doing it, you keep giving in to it. And you didn’t do the other thing - you struggle with that. He can’t forgive that. And you call yourself a Christian?” Of course, not only can our heart deceive us (who can trust it?), our feelings change all the time - how you slept last night, what you ate for dinner, our relationships, our circumstances and outcomes. They change with the seasons (not a reliable gauge of truth). But in season and out of season, the Lord is the same. Today, yesterday, and tomorrow (Hebrews 13.8). His love never changes, never fails, never wavers in the least (Lamentations 3.22, cf 1Corinthians 13.8).
-And so John says, nope. That’s not how it works. There is a surefire way to tell if you’re in Christ. We will know, he says. We listen not to our hearts but to what the all-knowing unchanging God says. And He says we WILL know (it’s a promise!) that we are out of the Truth - by this, when we are loving our brothers and sisters with real deeds which meet real needs. When we are practicing and doing what God wants (2Peter 1.10), starting with this above all else. Loving our neighbor is in fact set forth over and over as THE way to fulfill the entirety of the law (Romans 13.8-9, Galatians 5.14, James 2.8, cf Luke 10.36-37). It starts right here. Look for the love. This is the key to assurance. This is the way for our heart to be able to trust that we have truly trusted in Jesus, that we are truly in Him. Inversely, if we are NOT loving our brothers and sisters, we can also know that they are not our brothers and sisters after all, in that we are not actually in the family. We are NOT saved, we have NOT truly trusted in Christ. Yet John’s goal here is to assure our hearts. This is how we plow forward in the face of a condemning heart, knowing for sure that we ARE of the truth. We can surely be sure and rest assured that we are of the Truth. In this instance, don’t listen to your heart if it tries to tell you otherwise, if it tries to condemn you and convince you that you are not in Christ after all. In other words, this is the way to silence a (falsely) condemning heart. It's a heart gag! Look at your deeds - do you see demonstrated love for the brethren? Now if you DON'T see love, then that's another conversation. But if you do, then you’re good. Rest. Assured.
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