Yesterday I started sharing some thoughts about being “Just like your Father.” This a a continuation of that today.

1 John 3:1-2  How great is the 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. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Why would God choose people like you and me for His kids? Did He look into the future and see that we would be obedient and faithful to Him, making us good candidates to become His children? Was there some kind of cosmic screening process in which God decided that He would save some and not others? No, John tells us the only motive God had was His LAVISH LOVE. It was not even our response to His love that led Him to choose us. We have been made His children purely because of His love, which this translation says He “has lavished on us.” The emphasis in this passage is that the love of God is something tremendous, He has an ample supply, and He offers it freely.

I have been blessed in being able to spend more time with my children and  grandchildren in retirement. When I am with them, I wonder if they know just how much I love them. They may never comprehend just how much I care about them, love them, and want only the best for them. If I, as an earthly father, have that capacity to love and cherish my children and grandchildren, how much more is this true of our heavenly Father. He wants all men to be His children. The death of Jesus has made that possible for anyone and everyone.

As I mentioned yesterday, those who know our parents will often notice some of the characteristics and traits of our parents in us. If only that were always true about us to the world around us in regards to our heavenly Father. Do others see His traits and characteristics in us? Years ago Amy Grant recorded the song “Her Father’s Eyes” in which she prayed that she would look at the world with the eyes of her Father in heaven and that the world around her would notice that she was a child of God. We should all want that kind of resemblance to our Father. One of the amazing things about our God is that He does the work to make us like Himself. He makes us PERFECT. We have no perfection in ourselves, nor can we achieve it through our own efforts. However, His command to “be perfect” was accomplished for us — it comes to us as a gift in Jesus Christ. God has worked it out so that we will stand before Him as perfect on the last day. Perfection in God’s sight is ours because of what Jesus did for us and our faith in Him. That is part of that love He has lavished on us.

I’ll finish up my thoughts on this tomorrow.