February 15, 2023 | Be On Mission
We Are God's Children; Love Him & Others
Scripture: 1 John 3 (NIV)
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on 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. 2 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. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 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. 10 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.
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Devotional
John uses the word sin over fifteen times in this five chapter letter. Here are a few excerpts from 1 John on the topic of sin. Reflect on these for your own life.
FAILURE IN SIN
All wrongdoing is sin (5:17).
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness (3:4).
The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (3:8).
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1:8).
FORGIVENESS FOR SIN
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1:7).
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1:9).
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (2:2).
FREEDOM FROM SIN
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin (3:5).
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 (3:9).
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them (5:18).
Poem
Called
1 John 3:1 NRSV
Born into this world
With the curse of my parents upon me
From Adam and Eve
Through all generations
The stench of sin could not be
Perfumed away
Covered up
Washed clean
Atoned for
And so I was left
Abandoned
Doomed
Dead at birth
Called
A child of pity and woe
I wandered streets
With the rags of my sin upon me
From trash bins scrounged
Old ways, old paths
The holes of sin could not be
Re-woven
Patched up
Re-sewn
Amended
And so I was left
Naked
Ashamed
Unrighteous
Called
A child of wretchedness, lone
Born into this world
With the grace of his Father upon him
And virgin Mary
Hope of all generations
The stench of sin could not be
Present in his presence
Cleaned up
Washed clean
Atoned for
Wherever he walked
Welcomed
Rescued
Healed
Called
The Son of Man
He wandered streets
Handing out righteous robes for rags
Scrounging through trash bins
New ways, new path
New wine, new wineskins
Re-created
Patched up
Re-born
Atoned
And so I was found
Naked
Re-claimed
His righteousness
Called
A child of God, grace saved
