“See how much our
Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the
people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children
because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but
he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we know
that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have
this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, pure as he is pure”
(1 John 3:1-3,
NLT).
I like this. The Apostle
John breaks into an outburst of wonder at God’s love in making us His children.
“See how much our Father loves us…” John is like saying: “Can you believe how great God’s love is? This
love is lavished on us. Extravagance-love. God does not withhold love or
attention when we are bad or disobedient. God’s love just keeps coming and
coming!” John, again and again, calls us, the believers – “God’s children.” In other words, we bear the name of the
family of God! What better name could we have? In our society, a person can get
ahead if he or she has a certain name. But even more important than those names
is the name of Jesus. Jesus is our Lord and Brother, God is our Father. We belong
to Him. We are not only called God’s children – we really are His’!
From telling us who
we are, John goes on to talk about what we will be. I can’t wait for
this. “We will be like him.”
Exactly what we will be like when Christ returns is not all that clear. But we
do know that this life is only the beginning. The best is yet to be. The Apostle
Paul, however, gives us some clues about what we will be like. He says that we
will be clothed in “heavenly bodies”
that will last forever (read 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). Unlike our earthly bodies which can get sick and waste away, our heavenly bodies will never wear out. This
reminds me of Jesus’ body after His resurrection. He could suddenly appear in a
locked room without having come through the door (see John 20:19). Even though
people could see Him, somehow He was different; and that is how it will be for
us too [David Pawson said we going to have a 33-years old body like Jesus. We’ll
see]. The promise is that we will not only look like Christ but even more important,
we will “see him as he really is.”
We will be with Christ forever (read Philippians 1:23; Colossians 3:4). The joy
of being with Christ will never end!
In the last verse above,
John tells us what we should be. Even as we look forward to Christ’s return and with “eager expectation”
for this amazing event we should also aim for purity right now. We must “keep [ourselves] pure, pure as he is pure.” Even though
we live this life in preparation for the next, we still need to be responsible
to live this life to the fullest. Becoming pure is not an instant act; instead,
it is a lifetime process of becoming more pure and clean in a moral and
spiritual sense. Thus, we need to focus our energies and values on God so that we
can become what God wants us to be. In summary, how much God loves us? “Very much.” Who we are? “His children.” What we will be like? “Like [Christ].” What we will be able to do? “We will see him as he really is.” Therefore, what we
should be and do now? We must keep “[ourselves] pure,
just as he is pure.” This is beyond awesome… I’m speechless… Amen.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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