Monday, February 27, 2023

What Will We Be Like?

Prayer – Lord, You are holy. We sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy—Merciful and Mighty/God in Three Persons/ Blessed Trinity.” It is almost unimaginable that we could ever be holy as You are…but nothing is impossible with You, Lord God. We’re trusting You to keep Your promise that we can be Your children, if we believe in Jesus as our Savior, and we can be holy. Thank you!   

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him. 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. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.  1 John 3:1-3

 

Meditate. How do you see God?

 

How do you see God? How does God see you? Does He see you as His child? Of course, if you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you are a child of God.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 1 John 5:1

There it is again…love God…and love others. That is repeated time and again. God expected the Israelites to love Him…and to love others. He wants the same thing…for all His children. That’s us.

 

What more could anyone want than to love and be loved? That is a basic human need. Even the toughest person deep in some dungeon prison cell has a place in his or her heart that needs to be filled with God’s love…and whether they would admit it or not—they need to love God and others.

 

Purity. God desires holiness for His children.

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. Ephesians 4:21-24

He expects His children—His followers—to be holy.

So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16


Crossing the Bridge at the
Creation Museum Gardens.
Does this show self-control?
Sure--no jumping over the rails!

Be holy for God is holy.

I’ve been trying to teach my little six-year-old granddaughter about self-control. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit and thus it is an important characteristic to have for someone who loves the Lord. She knows and loves Jesus, so striving for the virtue of self-control is a good thing. Can she cross that bridge to a relationship with the Lord that includes humble self-control? Yes, she can. Likewise, we all need to be prepared for Jesus Christ’s return by being holy—pure before the Lord. We will one day stand before the Lord, pure? What will we be like? That choice is ours to make.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness. 1 Peter 2:1-3

 

© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm

 




Books by Mickey M. Hunacek

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