Being transformed unto His likeness
See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 CSB
Continuing on in John’s assurance of the believer’s salvation as a form of encouragement against false teachers, John focuses on sharing how wonderful it is to be a child of God. “See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!” John then says that being rejected shouldn’t be a surprise, because the world also rejected God, saying “the reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him.” John said the same thing about Jesus in John 1:10-11, “He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, and yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.” Yet, Jesus continued on in His ministry to accomplish the Father’s will for His life. Believers then should persevere in their work, knowing that they will be rejected by the world and face opposition. John continues on that and says, “what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is.” Believers are being transformed every day as they continue to walk after Christ, as seen in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at, the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Now, as we have also read in the past few weeks, believers are not perfect due to sin and will not be perfect here on earth. The transformation in every believer’s life, though as miraculous as it is, is a small glimpse of the perfection that will be completed when Christ returns to take them all into heaven. In light of this “hope,” John then challenges the believers to live pure lives “just as He is pure.” If you are a believer in God, you are His child, a part of His family, joining a community of believers from the past, present and future. There will be rejection, as Christ was rejected by many, but continue to persevere and seek out purity, following after Christ’s example, awaiting the day when He will return to transform you all into His likeness, perfectly praising Him forever and ever.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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