BIBLE PASSAGE:
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be
has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ
appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
(1 John 3:2)
MEDITATION:
When we surrender our lives to the Lord, we live with a new set of standards.
No longer are we under the control of the passions of the flesh,
but we have the Holy Spirit living within us and He
redirects our attention to the things that please God.
Instead of being motivated by things that are temporal (which will pass away),
we have a passion for the things that are endless
and the things that will have a positive impact on our eternal destiny.
The world and its desires pass away,
but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:17)
As a result, we no longer have to fear the return of the Lord,
but instead we will be unashamed when He appears,
because we have a confidence of where we will spend eternity.
And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we
may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28)
How do we develop this confidence?
We concentrate on, and dedicate ourselves
to “doing what is right” in the eyes of God.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone
who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)
Some struggle with determining the depth of their relationship with God.
However John gives us what we need for determining if we belong to God.
This is how we know who the children of God are
and who the children of the devil are:
Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child,
nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. (1 John 3:10)
John says that we will make every effort to do what is right on a daily basis,
and that we will love others (even if we do not agree with them and their actions).
Why would we love others (including the ones we may not necessarily like)?
It is because God has impressed on us that they are His creations the same as we are.
If God loves us in spite of our actions, and if we want to be more like Him,
then we must learn to love others as He does.
When we belong to God, we also make daily efforts
to purify ourselves (eliminating the sin in our lives).
Why? Because we have a desire to become more like the One we are following.
John tells us that our hope is tied to purifying ourselves.
All who have this hope in him purify themselves,
just as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)
Does that mean that we will reach a point where we never fail?
As long as sin exists in the world,
and as long as Satan is active, we will have struggles with temptation and sin.
However, our love for God, and His love for us, limits our sinfulness.
Because of our relationship with God, we will not be able to continue in sin.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin,
because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning,
because they have been born of God. (1 John 3:9)
I like to think that God keeps us on a short leash,
and whenever we are becoming too attracted to sin,
we feel His loving tug on our leash to pull us away from
what can harm us (and others), and returns our attention to Him.
ACTION:
Pause for a moment and visualize yourself writing to others as John did.
Also, imagine that this information would be for future generations as well.
Now, reread all of 1 John and look at his passion for helping us understand
what we need to know in order to improve our relationship with God, and
increase our hope and confidence that we will be with the Lord when He returns.
The word “know” is used over 30 times in the few verses of 1 John 1-3.
It gives us an indication that God knew we would struggle with “knowing”,
so He gave John this valuable information to share with the world.
We are told that when we are “born of God” we cannot “continue in sin”.
At times, that can seem like an insurmountable obstacle to overcome.
We can pray about it, but we need to take action as well.
Instead of looking at sin over the long haul, take it one day at a time.
Each night when you pray, make a commitment to God
that you will not give in to a particular sin the next day.
At the end of the next day, if you have succeeded then you will begin to increase your
confidence that you can overcome the sin that has been haunting you for some time.
At the same time, you are developing self-control (one of the gifts of the Spirit).
It’s like the saying, “Eat an elephant one bite at a time”.
In this case, you are “Defeating sin one day at a time”.
Every day you fail, your guilt is stronger and that is a good thing,
because it increases your determination to succeed the following day.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, You know the struggles I have with temptations
and You know how to help me overcome them. I want to increase
my fellowship with You and to have more confidence that I belong
to You. I pray that You will help me in my efforts to become more
righteous, to purify myself, and to love others in the same manner
that You love them, and me.”
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