Thoughts on 1 John 3:1-3

“Behold what manner of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope on him purifies himself, even as that One is pure.”

The love of God is unfathomable. It is inconceivable to the human mind why God would want to call any men, even redeemed men His children. As the psalmist says, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” Yet we are accepted in the Beloved – that is in Christ, and joined to Him, we partake of what is His. Thus we are called the elect (chosen) of God, yet Christ is the ultimate Chosen One, the stone which the builders refused, but elect and precious. We are the light of the World, because we are joined to the Light of the world. We are the sons of God because we are joined to the only-begotten Son of God, the temporal joined to the eternal, the finite to the infinite, the sinful to the Sinless. By virtue of this we are called sons of God, not only that but we are made partakers of the Divine nature and receive His Spirit to comfort, encourage, correct and form us into the image of Christ that He might bring many sons unto glory.

We have obtained a great privilege without any merit of our own in being called the sons of God, but it is not a privilege which the world recognizes. The world does not know us because they did not know Him. It is interesting that almost invariably Hollywood portrays Christians and especially Christian ministers in a negative light, while there is some truth in the portrayals, because there are tares among the wheat, yet they ultimately condemn not Christians, but themselves. When the world attributes motives of money seeking and other baser motives to true Christians who are following Christ and working out of love for God and man they condemn themselves. They show that they would never personally do anything of the sort and cannot understand why anyone would. Because they do not know Him and understand Him, they cannot understand real Christian behavior.

Not only are we called children of God, but we are so in reality. In the bleakness of fallen humanity there shines forth the light of God in His people, sometimes even to the surprise of the ones actually manifesting it. Too often we walk as men, it does not appear what we are, but at times something of the Christ nature shines forth, causing us to act in a way that is contrary to our own nature which we know so well. It is Christ in us the hope of glory.

When we look at our own shortcomings it is easy to be discouraged. Recently as I was pondering some of my own, I had this thought. Recently I acquired a new puppy. He is going to grow up to be a watch-dog. Currently he is still learning to bark and requires much training. However, I am not disappointed in him. I can look on some of his misdeeds with correction, but also with hope because I know that he will not remain a puppy forever. As he grows up, he will grow out of some things, and he will be trained out of others. In the same way God can look at us and our failings and because of the divine nature within us, He can accept us. He sees our failings and He corrects us, yet He knows that these failings will not remain forever, we have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. When we see Him we will be like Him.

This is the great hope that we have as believers, because of this hope we can purify ourselves. We know that it is possible to live a holy life, because Christ lived a holy life. We know it is possible to have victory over sin, because we have been buried with Christ and are risen with Him. Though these things are obscured sometimes at present, still we work to purify ourselves knowing that when Christ returns the work will be completed. Even so come Lord Jesus. Amen.