Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love (1 John 4:7-8).
G od is your Father! The Lord Jesus confirmed this in John 20:17, when He said to Mary, “…Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” Jesus knew God as His Father; now, He calls Him our loving heavenly Father as well. He sure is; we’re His offspring.
1 John 3:1 says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” O, the power and import of this verse! He lavished His love upon us, so that we might be called the “sons” of God! Do you know what that means? It means we’re His sons in the same sense that Jesus is the Son of God. If you’d recall, that was the reason the Jews wanted.
Him dead; they heard Him say, “I’m the Son of God!” They said, “How dare you; a mere man, you’re making yourself equal with God?” “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).
The latter part of 1 John 3:1 that we read says, “…therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” The world doesn’t recognize God as our Father, and us as His legal and vital offspring, possessing the same life and nature with Him, because it didn’t recognize Jesus as such when He walked the earth. Nevertheless, “Now are we the sons of God” (1 John 3:2).
Now that you’re born again, you’ve been made alive and awakened to the fatherhood of God. Eternal life has been imparted to your spirit, and there’s a fellowship, a oneness with God that’s so real: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).
PRAYER Dear Father, I thank you for the great love with which you loved me, demonstrated in sending Jesus to die in my place for the propitiation of my sins. Now I can call you my loving Father. I don’t walk in fear, but in confidence, knowing that your love for me is eternal! Thank you for bringing me into such glorious oneness with you, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Philemon 1:1-25
Jeremiah 33
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
John 8:44-59
2 Kings 24-25
FURTHER STUDY:
1 John 4:16-19
James 1:18
Hebrews 2:10
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