1 John 3:1 NIV
[1] See what great 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.
John the Beloved had a personal encounter with God's version of love. He was one of the inner caucus of disciples that Jesus kept, and it was to him that Jesus handed over his mother to, as he hung on the cross. The cross is the symbol of love; it caused great pain to God and His Son, because His Son died like a common criminal, hung between two thieves who actually owned up to the fact that they were paying a just price for their actions. For the first and last time on record, Jesus knew that His Father could not look at him as he hung on the cross, bearing the penalty and the pain for the sin of the whole world. He died the death we should have died, and He rose again to seal the life we now have in Him. It is not possible to access this life any other way than by being inside the One who sealed it by his death and resurrection. No one else can pay such a price, and no one else can secure such a prize.
This great love is the reason why I am standing where I am today. If not for Him, where would I be? If it were not for His grace and mercy, I would have been forgotten. I am called a child of God, simply because I have put my life in the hands of the One who loved me enough to die for me. I am called a child of God by my connection to God. Men must see the mark of sonship in me; the proof of my connection to God must be obvious in the company I keep, the conversations I have and the conduct I lay out. The standards I live by now are different from the world's, and that is why the world will never understand me. The world's principles and practices are not mine; I am a child of God, who seeks the glory of the One who loves me. Only in and through Jesus can anyone really know and appreciate the value of this love. It is freely given, but there are earthly and eternal consequences tied to whatever decison I make. I ask God for grace to make the right decision and to stick by it to the end. God's time of favour is here.
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