Reset to Righteousness
Opening Prayer
Father, I rejoice that I am Your child! Let me sit for a while with You and enjoy Your company.
Read 1 JOHN 2:28—3:10
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
3 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How does it make you feel to know that you are God’s child? Do you have child-like trust in your heavenly Father?We are children of God (1)! A glorious and mind-blowing thought! But when we find ourselves thinking, doing and saying things that are sinful (6), we might wonder if we truly belong to Christ.
In these verses John sets out two families: the family of God (1–3) and the family of the devil (8). Each family has a default setting, a core family likeness. The default setting for children of God is a longing to live to please God (7), a desire to be pure (3) and an underlying attitude of love toward others (10). In short, we are destined to be like Jesus (2), and that process starts now.
In contrast, the default setting of those who are “of the devil” is a determined attitude of rebellion against God—continuing in a sinful lifestyle (6,9). Jesus has done all that is necessary to destroy this default setting (5,8,9).
Jesus will not allow God’s children to “continue in sin” (6). Through God’s Word, God’s Spirit sharpens our conscience (9) and, as we turn to Jesus each day, he resets us to righteousness (6,9).
Apply
Ask the Spirit to sharpen your conscience, to make you aware of sin in your life that he wishes to deal with.
Closing prayer
My Father, plant in my heart a deeper desire to please You in every area of my life.
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