1 John 3:1-3 (NRSV)
Read 1 John 3:1-3 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 3See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Verse 2Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. Verse 3And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Devotion
Theme for this week: Praise for the experience of God’s goodness
An abiding image of contentment comes from my childhood days on the farm when we received a box of day-old pheasant chicks to raise. They were as cute as could be, down there under the heat lamp. When they were warm and full, their eyes would gradually close; they would rock unsteadily on their legs, then slowly sink down before they hit the floor. They were asleep, confident that their world was good.
Some would suggest this is an inept image for Christian believers. How does it encourage achievement?! How does it invite striving? Well, it doesn’t. At the moment when we talk about being God’s children, that is exactly what we don’t want to talk about. We want to focus on the basking, the unearned goodness, the assurance of God’s claim on us, the confidence that, through Christ, the Father is taking good care of us. “Beloved, we are God’s children now.”
Prayer
Loving Father! Can it really be true that we are nothing less than your own children?! Amazing thought, help us to realize it and metabolize it and trust in its trueness and bask in your fatherly love. In Jesus Name. Amen.