God Likes You

May 13

Read: 1 John 3:1-10, focus on 1-3

God Likes You

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (v.1)

And just like that it happens… We are made children of God. God the Father LOVES YOU. It says so right here. He is not distant and far off. He is not scowling at you. He is not simply tolerating you because of Jesus. God the Father LOVES you. It is his love for YOU that called you and transformed you into a child of God. YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD. I love how the verse simply ends with, “and so we are”. It is so matter of fact. Boom. It happens. We become children of God because of his LOVE for us.

It is worth noting that John asks “what KIND of love”. Sometimes we “flatten” God’s love out… make it uniform. For example, God loves his creation, but the earth and trees do not become “children of God”. There is a “manner of love”… a “kind of love”… that God gives that changes a person into a “child of God”. This love does not appear to be given to everyone. It is given to “us”. (cf. v.1) It does not seem like it is handed out indiscriminately to everyone or everything and everywhere. We have received the GIFT of God’s love… and it has made us / transformed us into his children. Jesus is God’s FAVORITE; and we have been brought into Jesus - and so we are his FAVORITES.

What happens when this transformation takes place? The world stops “knowing” us: “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (v.1b) It is pointless to think that those outside of the love of God would understand or know what it is like to be his children. This is part of the reason there are so many misconceptions about the Christian life. We should not be surprised when “the world” treats us the way it treated Christ.

The best is yet to come. As God’s children we are being made new in Christ. (cf. Rom. 6, 2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 2:20) “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” We are loved - “BELOVED” - right now. God is not waiting to give his love to us until “heaven” or after we die or the “new earth”. We are loved now and we are his children now. And yet, there is more to come. “What we will be has not yet appeared.” We are being made into Christ’s likeness. When we see Jesus “as he is” our transformation will be complete. In the meantime - we seek to “purify (ourselves) as he is pure.” (v.3)

God likes you. He is fond of you. You are his Child if you are in Christ. There is a difference between you and the world. The world doesn’t know you… it might act like it does…. but the world doesn’t KNOW you. It doesn’t have what you need. Stop trying to get the world to “get you”. The world doesn’t LOVE you, but God the Father does. And so we seek purity. We move towards the one that someday we will be like. We hope for that better day ahead. You are the “beloved”… the “loved ones”… God’s favorites in Christ. May the Lord give us eyes to see Jesus as he is and make us pure! Love you guys. - JDP