Are We Amazed?

1John 3:1a   Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
 Are we amazed at God’s love for us?  John sure was.  As he wrote his first letter to the church, he paused right in the middle of it and was overcome by a single thought, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”
 The idea that God loves us should be incomprehensible to most of us.  There are a few of us who might be able to scratch at the surface of this concept . . . It is similar to an orphaned child.  Someone who is alone and incapable of taking care of themselves.  Someone who is surrounded by others, yet tragically “belongs” to no one.  This usually leads to feelings of hopelessness and despair because the situation cannot be rectified by the orphan as he is the one who needs to “belong” and be acquired by another.  
 It is at this point that we “behold” the amazing love of God!  God has created us to “belong,” and life was never meant to be walked alone.  How do we know this?  God Himself has never been Alone.  He has always been in fellowship within the Trinity of the Godhead . . . God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, have always been, and will always be, in relationship with one another.  This is the essence of the family.  In fact, God has allowed trinitarian relationships within the family to reflect this: God, the husband, and the wife; The husband, the wife, and the children; God, the family, and their community; etc.  There are obviously many more, but these things exemplify our need to “belong” and be a part of the family.
 But what about those of us who have walked separate from God, or maybe even walked away from God?  As our verse says, God loved us and decided to bestow on us the gift of “adoption,” but He was very specific in how He chose to do it:
Ephesians 2:18-19   For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.  Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
 Through Jesus, we belong to the Father.
 Through Jesus, we are no longer “strangers”.
 Through Jesus, we have been adopted into the “household of God”.
 Through Jesus, God has demonstrated that He loves us, and has done so by making us His children.
 Therefore, we need to stop for a moment in the middle of our busy lives and reflect just as John did, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”  Through Jesus, we belong to God and are a part of His family and this should leave us amazed!

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