Identifying With Christ
Opening Prayer
Gracious Lord, awaken me to the exciting adventure of being guided by You in my understanding.
Read 1 JOHN 2:28—3:10
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
If only I could “know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly” (Richard of Chichester, 1197–1253), I would more effectively reveal to the world the difference Jesus is making in my life.
How often do you think about Christ’s return? For most of us in the west, life is so comfortable that we get along just fine
without thinking about it; but others, living in war-torn countries with horror, injustice and poverty, eagerly await his return. Like them, the Ephesian Christians comprised a tiny minority in a prosperous pagan province. The other reason so many of us relegate the second coming to the back burners of our minds is that he will come with judgment. That makes us queasy. We will welcome his putting the whole world to rights; it’s our personal appearance before the judgment seat that we prefer not to think about.
John addresses our anxiety with a healthy dose of theology. We think too small, with blurry vision, forgetting that when he comes we will not be ashamed, because he has already dealt with the sin that makes us want to hide our faces. It is gone. We may be “confident,” as the TNIV translates the Greek word parrhesia (2:28)—though the word means much more than confidence, suggesting boldness and fearlessness, especially in the presence of people of high rank. It includes the joy that accompanies faith.
The writer to the Hebrews talks about the parrhesia that Christians have to enter the sanctuary in the Temple (Heb. 10:19). We come before God with open access and parrhesia (Eph. 3:12). We can look forward to Christ’s return and yes, even his judgment, with complete parrhesia. We are forgiven! John’s letters sparkle with statements that express arresting truths about God. In 3:2 we read that, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Think of Jesus’ values, priorities and attitudes; this is what we will be like.
Apply
Reflect on 3:3. In what ways can the Holy Spirit to enable you to live like Jesus?
Closing prayer
Almighty God, You have loved me with an infinite love in spite of what I have been or said. Remove from me those things that hamper me from loving others as I have been loved.
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