We began this week confessing together the good works of God. Begin this time of reflection by reminding your heart of the good news of what God has done for us through Jesus:
Holy Spirit, you made us see the beauty and feel the freedom of the cross. Jesus, your cross declares: Your life for ours. Paid in full. Love beyond words. The empty tomb declares: No condemnation. Forgiveness. Life beyond the grave. You are making us new. You are making all things new.
Here in the middle of Thanksgiving week is a good time to dwell on the abundance of gifts that flow to us through Jesus. Think about what you find beautiful about the cross of Christ. Feel the freedom that comes from coming near to God your Father in Jesus’ name.
Pray: Loving Father, lift up our heads so that our eyes take in the reality that we are your children in your world. Lord Jesus, may the fact that you were dead, yet you are now alive keep us expecting resurrection. May our lives be rumors of the coming glories.
We heard the good news preached from one of John’s letters that through Jesus, we are children of God.
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
In this passage, John is marveling with joy at the gift that has been given to us, the life-changing relationship that makes us God’s children. This truth has moved on him so that it has become active in his heart and in his life. Take a moment to consider the truths that this passage puts into words for us:
We are God’s children now, his heart is turned toward us as to a beloved child.
We are going to see Jesus; being in his presence is our actual future.
Our destiny is to be like him; being in the presence of Jesus will make us whole.
Pray: Lord Jesus, you change everything about our present, our future and our daily lives in between. Holy Spirit, please be active in our hearts as we engage with your word so that we would get taste after taste of the sweetness of your love toward us. We are entering a busy season, Lord, when our time seems pressed and stretched thin. Please lead us gently into moments of hearing and reading your word. Let your truth move on us and cause us to grow to be more like Jesus.
John explains how when the truths of the gospel move more and more toward the center of our hearts, hope becomes the operating system of our lives:
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3:3).
Here in the middle of being children of God now and our promised future in his presence, we live by hope, and hoping in Jesus is how we grow. As it was for John when he wrote this letter, the love of God becomes more and more the deep and overarching reality that affects everything about how we relate to others.
Pray: Father God, please open our hearts and imaginations to know the richness and freedom of your love for us in Jesus. May your grace compel us to pour out our lives for others, as you Jesus, poured out your life for us.
Next week, we will be continuing in our reading of the New Testament, thinking about the four-part story of the Scriptures: Creation, Rebellion, Redemption and Restoration. Finish this time by prayerfully reading the following verses, asking the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus as his Word is preached, received and lived out by his people.
Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.