Musings on First John (3:1-3)

¹ How great is the 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 he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

I love the exclamation marks here. John certainly is exclaiming a great truth: God loves us so incredibly much that he calls us his children. I added another exclamation mark in the margin of my Bible just because this news is so awesome. Are we God’s playthings? No. Slaves? No. Pets? No, again. We are His children.

What will we be when we get to Eternity? Even John admits that the answer to that has not yet been made known. But he assures us of one thing: we will be like him (Jesus) and we shall see him as he is. How cool is that?