Characteristics of Children of God
John wrote that Christians should become more like Christ. Their actions should prove that they unite in love as the church of God.
As God's children, Christians will be characterized as those who stop sinning and demonstrate love towards their fellow Christians.
1. The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children. . . 3. Christ is pure, and all who have this hope in Christ keep themselves like Christ. 4. The person who sins breaks God's law. Yes, sin is living against God's law. 5. You know that Christ came to take away sins and that there is no sin in Christ. 6. So anyone who lives in Christ does not go on sinning Anyone who goes on sinning has never really understood Christ and has never known him. . . 7b. So to be like Christ a person must do what is right. 8a. The devil has been sinning since the beginning, so anyone who continues to sin belongs to the devil. . . 9. Those who are God's children do not continue sinning, because the new life from God remains in them. They are not able to go on sinning, because they have become children of God. 10. So we can see who God's children are and who the devil's children are: Those who do not do what is right are not God's children, and those who do not love their brothers and sisters are not God's children. 11. This is the teaching you have heard from the beginning: We must love each other. . . 14. We know that we have left death and have come into life because we love each other. Whoever does not love is still dead. 15. Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderers have eternal life in them. 16. This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters. . . 18. My children, we should love people not only with words and talk, but by our actions and true caring. 19. This is the way we know that we belong to the way of truth. 20. When our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. . . 23. This is what God commands: that we believe in his son, Jesus Christ, and that we love each other, just as he commanded. 24a. The people who obey God's commands live in God, and God lives in them. . . -1 John 3:1-24 (NCV)
The United States Treasury Department has a special group of men whose job it is to track down counterfeiters. Naturally these men need to know a counterfeit bill when they see it.
How do they learn to identify fake bills?
Oddly enough, they are not trained by spending hours examining counterfeit money Rather, they study the real thing. They become so familiar with authentic bills that they can spot a counterfeit by looking at it or, often, simply by feeling it.
This is the approach in 1 John 3, which warns us that in today's world there are counterfeit Christians - "children of the devil' (v. 10). But instead of listing the evil characteristics of Satan's children, the Scripture gives us a a clear description of God's children. The contrast between the two is obvious.
The key verse of this chapter is verse 10: a true child of God practices righteousness and loves Christians despite difference. Verses 1-10 deal with the first topic, and verses 11-24 take up the second. . .
An unbeliever who sins is a creature sinning against his Creator. A Christian who sins is a child sinning against his Father. The unbeliever sins against the law; the believer sins against love.
-From Be Real by Warren Wiersbe; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado
If God shows you sin in your life, confess that sin, asking for God's help to overcome it.
As God's children, Christians will be characterized as those who stop sinning and demonstrate love towards their fellow Christians.
1. The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children. . . 3. Christ is pure, and all who have this hope in Christ keep themselves like Christ. 4. The person who sins breaks God's law. Yes, sin is living against God's law. 5. You know that Christ came to take away sins and that there is no sin in Christ. 6. So anyone who lives in Christ does not go on sinning Anyone who goes on sinning has never really understood Christ and has never known him. . . 7b. So to be like Christ a person must do what is right. 8a. The devil has been sinning since the beginning, so anyone who continues to sin belongs to the devil. . . 9. Those who are God's children do not continue sinning, because the new life from God remains in them. They are not able to go on sinning, because they have become children of God. 10. So we can see who God's children are and who the devil's children are: Those who do not do what is right are not God's children, and those who do not love their brothers and sisters are not God's children. 11. This is the teaching you have heard from the beginning: We must love each other. . . 14. We know that we have left death and have come into life because we love each other. Whoever does not love is still dead. 15. Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderers have eternal life in them. 16. This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters. . . 18. My children, we should love people not only with words and talk, but by our actions and true caring. 19. This is the way we know that we belong to the way of truth. 20. When our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. . . 23. This is what God commands: that we believe in his son, Jesus Christ, and that we love each other, just as he commanded. 24a. The people who obey God's commands live in God, and God lives in them. . . -1 John 3:1-24 (NCV)
The United States Treasury Department has a special group of men whose job it is to track down counterfeiters. Naturally these men need to know a counterfeit bill when they see it.
How do they learn to identify fake bills?
Oddly enough, they are not trained by spending hours examining counterfeit money Rather, they study the real thing. They become so familiar with authentic bills that they can spot a counterfeit by looking at it or, often, simply by feeling it.
This is the approach in 1 John 3, which warns us that in today's world there are counterfeit Christians - "children of the devil' (v. 10). But instead of listing the evil characteristics of Satan's children, the Scripture gives us a a clear description of God's children. The contrast between the two is obvious.
The key verse of this chapter is verse 10: a true child of God practices righteousness and loves Christians despite difference. Verses 1-10 deal with the first topic, and verses 11-24 take up the second. . .
An unbeliever who sins is a creature sinning against his Creator. A Christian who sins is a child sinning against his Father. The unbeliever sins against the law; the believer sins against love.
-From Be Real by Warren Wiersbe; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado
If God shows you sin in your life, confess that sin, asking for God's help to overcome it.
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