In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.
See ywhat kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be calledzchildren of God; and so we are. The reason why athe world does not knowus is that bit did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are zGod’s children cnow, and whatwe will be dhas not yet appeared; but we know that ewhen he appears1 fwe shallbe like him, because gwe shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who hthus hopesin him ipurifies himself as he is pure. 1 JOHN 3:1-3
MEDITATIONAL THOUGHTS:You are already a child of God, and what you will be has not yet been revealed.
MY THOUGHTS: Through our faith in Christ Jesus we are already children of God…but we are not yet all that we shall be! I often think about what it will be like when I enter into that fullness. I get stuck usually somewhere around the idea of innocence and how far removed from that state I am…the world is…I am pretty sure we don’t even have a good working definition of the thing. The best definition we can come up with is something akin to “inexperienced “or “naivete”. Honestly, the power of real innocence goes so far beyond that, that it was the inviolable defense shield against the power of sin coming into the world. In order to do away with innocence the serpent had to first deactivate innocence by introducing hubris…pride. What will it be like when that enemy is dealt with and actual innocence can be reactivated. That’s just one thing in the list of hugs that will change in me on that day!
Lillie-Put 