God’s Own Children, We Gladly Say It

Rev. Rick Jones, Chaplain and Vice-President of Spiritual Life at the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in Minot, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study 1 John 2:28-3:10. St. John encourages confidence in the children of God as the Lord’s appearing draws closer. We need not shrink from His coming, but rather, we can look forward to receiving Him as the Righteous One for us. The Father’s love has made us His children in Christ now, even as we await being made fully like Christ in glory. Because we are God’s children now, we do not practice sinning, which is lawlessness. We flee from the practice of sin because Jesus has come to destroy such devilish works. Instead, we run toward practicing the righteousness of Christ, confessing our sins before Him and living in the new life of love for our brother that Jesus has freely given us. “The Love of God” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through the three epistles written by St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. As St. John rejoiced to be the disciple loved by Jesus, so he writes his epistles to give us the same joy when we know that we are the beloved of God. God’s love for us in Jesus shapes our lives as Christians in all that we believe, say, and do.