We Shall Behold Him

Friday, April 18, 2014       We Shall Behold Him

1 John 3: 1-10

John wants the Christian to be fully grounded in their true identity: “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! Dear friends, we are already God’s children” (1 John 3:1a & 2). John uses this truth to segue into one of Christianity’s core values: the Second Coming of Christ. I don’t think the coming again of Christ is emphasized nearly enough in our culture: “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2).

Two thoughts, so simply stated by John are worthy of our deepest meditation: “we will be like him,” and “for we will see him as he really is.” Spend some time pondering what it will be like when your faith becomes sight and you behold Jesus as he really is. Then take a leap of faith and meditate on what it will be like for you to be like him!

Because of this hope that we shall see Jesus, and we shall be like Jesus, John urges his readers to “keep themselves pure, just as (Christ) is pure” (1 John 3:3). John cautions against sin and emphasizes this point by using the word sin eleven times in the remaining seven verses of this passage. So what is sin? The best definition I know comes from David C. Needham. Sin is “The expression of man’s struggle with the meaning of his existence while missing life from God.” (BIRTHRIGHT- Christian Do You Know Who You Are?) We all have three core needs: the need to be loved, the need to be accepted, and the need to have a sense of self-worth. Everything we do to meet those needs out of our own strength, and following the trends of cultural values, is sin. Sin causes us to miss life from God. Seeking the life in Christ as our way of life allows God to meet all of core needs through His amazing, unconditional, love and acceptance of us. When you have tasted God’s grace, John’s word is good news because we know keeping ourselves pure, just as Christ is pure, will keep us in life from God.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

• Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.