Can I be honest with you? (I have to be anyway… it’s what I’ve been called to do!)
I’ve been gaining more and more awareness of the “missing ingredient” in successful Christian living… And do you know what I think it is?
- Not enough reading of the Bible?
- Not going to church on a regular basis?
- Not fellowshipping with other believers?
- Not walking in obedience to God’s word that we understand?
- Living like the world all week and attending church on Sunday?
NO! Although, those are all reasons to lose joy, peace and close relationship with God.
I believe the reason is LOVE! Not love itself, but NOT really knowing the “love of God” FOR YOU as a believer!
You may say, “I know God loves me and that He gave His life for me”… BUT, that’s head knowledge. We all know that. Even people that don’t claim to be Christians know that!
The problem is… we really don’t know the “expanse” of His love. If we did, we would trust Him more in every life situation. His love is real, evident and tangible and specifically “for you!”
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian people, “And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.”
You see, God can’t give you any more love than He had for you last year. He doesn’t love you anymore than when He offered Himself up for you on the cross. He loves you with a love that spreads over you, under you, side to side for you and deeper than any situation in life you’ll ever face!
We base WAY TOO MUCH on our situations and how we FEEL about God at the moment. We MUST realize that He doesn’t feel the same way as you do when your perspective is wrong. He still looks at you with that “expansive” and complete love.
Now look at what the Apostle John says because he was a disciple that REALLY KNEW the Savior! In 1 John 3:1 he said, “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don’t know God, so they don’t understand that we are his children.”
The King James Version (KJV) 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.”
This is one time I prefer the KJV because it’s stronger in clarifying this relationship with God now. The word “Behold” in the original Greek translation means: “Know, Be Aware, Be Sure, Understand.”
John is literally saying here… “Get this in your mind and spirit once and for all, the love that our God has for us, especially now that we are His children, demands that we are recognized as His children and we SHOULD BE called His children by everyone from now on. And the ONLY reason we’re NOT is because the people who belong to this world don’t know God, so they don’t understand that we are his children.”
So the problem is… we let the world tell us who we are instead of calling ourselves who God says we are!
When a man or woman is put in highest position in the land (ex. President, Queen, Chancellor etc.), no one calls them, “Hey you.” or “Lady” or the common term used only by their immediate family members. They address them by their present status title.
Our present status title as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is “Children of the Most High God.” We are Christians! Why would we let the world give us a different title than the one our Father has? Because we don’t “get” the love of our Father yet!
John said it twice in the first letter he wrote… “God Is Love.” Not, He has a lot of love for you. “God Is Love.” What does that mean?
It means that His very essence is nothing less than total love. And now that you’ve been “born again,” His nature, the nature of our Father has been transferred by His Spirit into our lives. When you call another believer “brother or sister,” you are correct.
John says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” Jesus commanded us to love those who hate us. This IS impossible for an unbeliever! But NOT for a child of the God who IS love.
Why don’t we always believe what Jesus said? We don’t really understand His love for us. We are His children! If you’re a parent or have ever been one, do you pass on the “nature and character” of yourself to your children? YES! They act the way you’ve trained them and instill value to them… good or bad! Why do children raised in loving homes end up being very successful? Because they KNEW the love and care of their father or mother and that consistent encouragement to them about who they are!
John said, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult. For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” “We know that those who have become part of God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them. We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.”
Act like John and confess with your mouth, your actions and your life, “We know that we are children of our God.”
You will either believe who the world says you are or you’ll believe who your Father says you are! Who do you trust?
