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Morning Devotion for the Season of Christmas
January 3, 2025
Reading: 1 John 3:1-6
See what love the Father has given 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. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
The Christmas tree has been decorated, the cards addressed and mailed, those that have been received are artfully displayed, presents opened; no doubt, one has attended several celebrations of Christmas Eve and/or Christmas day, visited friends and family and attended holiday parties. The rush of the holiday season has almost come to an end. Travelers, no doubt, are relieved to have arrived home safely. And the horror of New Orleans and Las Vegas now hangs over the holiday season. Our mood is far more mixed than it was thirty-six hours ago.
One hears this opening verse of this passage anew. Find comfort and strength in the opening words of this passage. Here is an exclamation of exuberant wonder: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” While the author has frequently referred to his addressees as “children,” this is the first time in the letter where he refers to them explicitly as “children of God.”
So now, let us forthrightly claim the identity that is both a relationship and vocation spoken into existence by God, just as God spoke all of creation into being. Being children of God is a life-altering reality born out of the gift and priority of God’s love. As people born of God Christians strive to live into this identity by struggling with the reality of sin and aspiring to love humankind. Daily we struggle to live into this new identity amid the alienating voices and forces that conflict. The “world” fails to recognize our identity and relationship with God because it does not know God.
We who choose to remain in relationship with God grow into confidence, knowing that the loving relationship between God and us does not depend on our merit. It is inevitable that we will fall short. Yet, there is hope in this: “What we shall be has not yet been revealed.” We may look to the benefits of our relationship with God, benefits that unfold over the length and breadth of our relationship with God. This points too a future revelation and serves as the ground for a great hope.
And yet, the passage does force us to grapple with our human limitations. There is a sharp contrast between Jesus’ sinlessness and human sinfulness. The severity of this indictment is troubling because who other than Jesus can say they do not commit sin? And if everyone who sins is guilty of lawlessness, how can we maintain our relationship with God, how do we “abide in him?” What is most troubling to our relationship with God is our willful disobedience to God. For like it or not, we Christians to sin. Yet, because we strive to live in God’s presence we confess our sins to God with confidence that Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection saves us from our sin and unrighteousness. We trust that the work of Christ has begun and will be completed. Thus, we have the great gift to live into this identity confident that God is not done with us yet. We commit ourselves again and again to this identity and relationship, knowing that it is a privilege to be called his sons and daughters—and that is what we are!
Prayer for Guidance
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldst have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord.. Amen.
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