“See what great 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.”
1 John 3:1 NIV
The three epistles of John the Evangelist are quite short (2 John and 3 John have just one chapter each!), but are filled with meaning and beauty. At the end of the chapter just prior to today’s verse, John told his readers that “…you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.” (1 John 2:29). Knowing that we are born of Him, John now asks us “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
He’s asking us to deeply consider the love God has lavished on us. Lavish is a word we don’t use very often; it is defined as “to expend or give in great amounts or without limit”. It’s a one-sided gift from God; we’re not getting His love in return for anything that we have done.
Yet it is very difficult for many people to believe that God loves them! Enduring Word had this explanation as to why this is so:
What is it that makes us slow to believe the love of God? Sometimes it is pride, which demands to prove itself worthy of the love of God before it will receive it. Sometimes it is unbelief, which cannot trust the love of God when it sees the hurt and pain of life. And sometimes it just takes time for a person to come to a fuller understanding of the greatness of God’s love.
John asks us to “See what great love” God has given us as His precious gift, because God wants us to see His love. Charles Haddon Spurgeon eloquently stated God’s case in one of his commentaries:
“‘There,’ he says, ‘you poor people that love me you sick people, you unknown, obscure people, without any talent, I have published it before heaven and earth, and made the angels know it, that you are my children, and I am not ashamed of you. I glory in the fact that I have taken you for my sons and daughters.’”1
How much does God love us? So much that He calls us His children! ALL of God calls us His children — God the Father (“And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18), God the Son (“…Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:11), and God the Holy Spirit (“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:16).
David Guzik of Enduring Word points out that God gave believers something that Adam never had:
In this, we gain something in Jesus Christ greater than Adam ever possessed. We never once read of Adam being called one of the children of God in the sense John means here. He was never adopted as a son of God in the way believers are. We err when we think of redemption as merely a restoration of what was lost with Adam; we are granted more in Jesus than Adam ever had.
As children of God, we usually find ourselves as a bit “alien” to this world. John points this out by stating that “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” We should not be offended by a world that finds Christians to be “different”, because “the world does not know us”. They didn’t know Jesus either; they rejected and crucified Him!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear God, I praise You for Your great love for me. Thank You for loving me so much that You saved me and that in Christ, I am Your child. AMEN
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)