Morning By Morning #44

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.

Dear friends, now we are children of God.

1 John 3:1–2

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us!” Consider who we were—and how we feel about ourselves even now when sin is still so powerful in us—and you will be amazed we have been adopted. Yet we are called “children of God.” What an exalted relationship, being a child, and what privileges it brings! Just think of the care and tenderness a child expects from his father and what love the father feels toward his child!

Yet all that—and more than that—we now have through Christ. Even the temporary drawback of this life—the suffering we share with our Older Brother—we accept as an honor. “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” We are content to not be known as we share in His humiliation, for one day we will be exalted with Him.

“Dear friends, now we are children of God.” Those words are easy to read but not quite as easy to feel. How do you feel deep within your heart this morning? Do you find yourself in the deepest depths of sorrow? Do past sins seem to be rising up within you, and does grace now seem like a mere spark long since trampled underfoot? Does your faith seem to be failing you? Don’t be afraid. It is not by trusting in your gifts, talents, or feelings you are to live—you must live solely by faith in Christ. With all these things coming against us, whether we are in the very depths of sorrow or we find ourselves in the valley or even on the mountaintop, “Dear friends, now we are children of God.”

Yet you say, “Just look at me! I’m a wreck! I’m not using my talents and my righteousness doesn’t shine with God’s glory at all.” Then read on this morning, “What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him” (v. 2). The Holy Spirit will purify our minds and His divine power will perfect our bodies, and then: “We shall see him as he is” (v. 2).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Yes, when Jesus returns for us, “We shall see him as he is”—and—“We shall be like him”! Our loving Lord is in the process of perfecting or sanctifying us, but He desires we be actively involved, for Paul instructs us, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”; but lest we begin to take credit for our ensuing holiness, he finishes his statement with: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12 – 13).

The path to our complete sanctification is often difficult, but God finishes what He starts and tells us in His Word He has taken the burden of finishing the task upon Himself, for Paul said, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thess. 5:23 – 24).

Father, “Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD” (Ps. 118:19).