1 John 3:1-3 (ESV)
Children of God
3 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.
Because we are sinners, we deserve to be punished.
We are guilty of many sins. The wages of sin is death, so it is death that we deserve. I think of our confession that we confess each Sunday at the beginning of the worship service.
Confession of
Sins
P Let us then confess our sins to God our Father.
C Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have
sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake
of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
We are guilty and we know what
we deserve... but God still loves us and calls us his children. We repent and we want to do better. John writes: “3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” Sometimes I think we become complacent in
our sins and do not try to do better. We will never be perfect while we are here on earth, but we are to still to try and do better.
I pray: O Lord, I know I have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God. I want to do better. Let the Holy Spirit work in me and help me to purify myself. I look forward to the day I will be perfect, when I am in your Kingdom. Amen.