Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 1

  If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 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. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1John 2:29-3:3

         It should be obvious by observing us for a little while that we are different. We are Children of God who think differently, act differently, react differently - we're just different in general. In fact one of my least favorite quotes ever is "preach the gospel always and if necessary, use words." This quote implies that we live lives so differently that people by observing us would come to Jesus. John is saying that the world does not know us or recognize us because they don't know God. Somehow through the opening of their ears to our words about God, our lives would make sense to them. What I'm saying is our words lead the way and our lives confirm the way. If we are living unrighteous, self-centered lives, we can share the truth, but it will immediately be rejected as false because our lives don't back it up.

        I know a number of people might disagree and quote 1Peter 2:12;

     " Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us "

          The hope is that our lives are so different that people would come up to us and like the Philippian jailor say, "What must I do to be saved?' Has that happened to you? I wish. The problem with both of these verses is that in both cases they imply prior knowledge from what you've said. You have preached about God, and your life backed it up so when crisis comes, they reach out.

          Satan, recognizing that a life well lived might point to Christ, has further obscured the view. I know Muslims that are more chaste than us. I know Mormons with better families. I know Jehovah witnesses that are nicer than Christians. I know homosexuals who are more thoughtful and gentler than believers. Bill Gates has probably given more money away to charities than 100 Christian philanthropists combined. People don't equate goodness with "religion" necessarily.

        Let's share Christ and back it up with our lives and through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we see some lives changed. And some day, when He appears we will finally lose this traitorous flesh and get a body that REALLY looks like Him. I can't wait!