“Little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure…
“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning… By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother…
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers…
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers… Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 2:28-3:3,6-10,13-14,16,18
There is great assurance in the declared reality that we are God’s children. We have been born again unto salvation by grace, by faith, into a secure, unbreakable relationship that identifies us in the world as other-worldly. We belong to Christ Jesus forever. We bear an indelible mark, a guaranteed promise of what we are becoming and will become. Life here below is a process of sanctifying childhood. (1 Corinthians 13:9-12; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:1-5; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Children of the Heavenly Father. How seriously do we take God’s identification of us, and with us? Does it compel us to abide in Him so we can say no to sin and be increasingly like Him? What evidence of His nature is there in our attitudes, daily interactions, how we go about work and service and management of resources? As His, freed from sin’s penalty and power over us, are we living as such in our dark world? (Romans 6:3-7,11-14; Galatians 2:20)
Laying down our lives for our brothers can take many forms, from simply preferring another in love to whole surrender of time, dreams, and self for another’s sake. How well and sacrificially are we loving those around us? How does the sure hope of being like Christ change our outlook and motivation today? (John 13:34-35; Romans 12:10; Ephesians 4:32)
“When we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
we’ll sing and shout the victory!” ~E.E. Hewitt (1898)
Lord, make me- in every impulse and action- like You, to Your glory.
As the rain and snow 