The God Pause Daily Devotional from The Luther Seminary of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Wednesday, 1 November 2017 - 1 John 3:1-3

The God Pause Daily Devotional from The Luther Seminary of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Wednesday, 1 November 2017 - 1 John 3:1-3
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1 John 3:1 See what love the Father has lavished on us in letting us be called God’s children! For that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it has not known him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now; and it has not yet been made clear what we will become. We do know that when he appears, we will be like him; because we will see him as he really is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in him continues purifying himself, since God is pure.(Complete Jewish Bible)
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Every new school year I would make resolutions about who I wanted to be that year. "This will be the year that I show up for school games," I would promise myself. Or, "This will be the year when I push myself to be more outgoing." I constantly set goals of who I wanted to become--always assuming who I was right now wasn't good enough.
"Beloved, we are God's children now," today's reading asserts. Right now, in this very moment. Imperfect, unsure, even sometimes unlikeable--right now we are God's children. This beautiful fact has the potential to free us from the expectations the world puts on us, because the world doesn't know us like God does. And because part of God's loving work is to form and re-form us. "What we will be has not yet been revealed." Broken and beloved, sinner and saint--these are the gifts of God!
I wait for the day, O God, when you will be revealed and I will be like you. Until then, keep filling me with your grace for the day. Help me be patient with others and myself as I wait for you. Amen.
Amanda Kempthorne, '09
Pastor,Lord of Life Lutheran Church,North Pole, Alaska
1 John 3:1 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.
2 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.
3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.(New Revised Standard Version)

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