November 27, 2024 - 1 John 3

So many encouragements and affirmations in John’s first epistle!  How about this:  “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 why 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” (3:1-2).  What a thing to be the child of a king or a president or a famous artist.  Piddle . . . that’s nothing.  We are children of God!  Of course, the world does not recognize us as such.  In order to do so the world would have to know God.  But we know him.  And as marvelous a reality as is that, oh my, there’s more to come.  He shall appear, we shall see him in all his glory, and we will be like him!

Behold th’ amazing gift of love

the Father hath bestowed

on us, the sinful sons of men,

to call us sons of God!

High is the rank we now possess,

but higher we shall rise . . .

Our souls, we know, when he appears,

shall bear his image bright,

for all his glory, full disclosed,

shall open to our sight.   –Isaac Watts (early 18th century)