A Thought for Encouragement in 2009

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)

Let me take it apart before you in the way my mind has been rolling over it for months.

“now we are children of God…”

NOW!!! We are!!! Children of God!!! If we are saved as John the writer of this epistle expressed.. we have eternal life. We have it now! That is exciting. We have the very life of God within us. The dynamo of the Holy Spirit – the same power that raised the Son of God from the grave is residing within our being. We are His.

“it has not yet been revealed what we shall be…” (But wait, there’s more!)

It has not yet been revealed. Oh, thank God!!! I am so glad that the way I am -the way WE ARE- is not the end product. Oh thank you Lord, Jesus. It has not yet been revealed. This down payment that we have on eternity, this waiting state of having eternal life yet being attached to the stinking corpse of the old man is not the be-all, end-all. It is nice to read that. “Sanctification” as good as it gets here is still not anywhere near a complete picture of how we are going to end up. As it says: it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

“but… when He is revealed, we shall be like Him…”

I have a feeling we are going to be hard pressed to even recognize ourselves. Jesus – that perfect man – that holy and powerful man – that compassionate and wise, soul-piercing man… we are going to be like him. Why? How?

“for we shall see Him as He is.”

Well, hallelujah. Wow. You mean I haven’t seen Him as He is yet? Have you? We who think we know Him so well. We have never even seen Him as He was, as the apostle John had. John saw Him when He began His earthly ministry. John saw Him in His pre-cross glorified state on the Mount of Transfiguration between Moses and Elijah. He also saw Jesus after He had come out of the grave and saw Him ascend to heaven. But even John refers to a time when “WE” (all the church and himself=we) shall see Him as He is.

The larger portion of the greatness of life with God lies ahead, dear brother and sister in Christ. Don't let the way things are with yourself or with the brethren get you down. He who began a good work in us is going to COMPLETE it.

All our darkness will be dealt with and melted away and we shall be like Him and see Him as He is!!! What a wonder to look forward to.