Last night’s Bible study looked at 1 John 3:1-3, a passage where John is overwhelmed with the knowledge of our identity as children of God. He talks about how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, or, in the KJV, ‘what manner of love’. The word ‘manner’ or ‘type’ is used infrequently in the New Testament, but indicates coming from another country or race, being a different type altogether. Sometimes, other country’s customs are strange to us (the French habit of dunking croissants – or Weetabix! – in coffee or drinking coffee from a bowl at breakfast, for example, or the Malaysian tea ceremony which is part of the wedding rituals) and in many ways, the depth and range of God’s love seems totally alien to us. We find it hard even to love our friends at times, but God’s love is demonstrated in that whilst we were His enemies, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8-10) God never asks us to do that which He has not done Himself. (see Matt 5:44)
Not only is God’s love so much stronger and deeper than anything we have ever known, He has lavished it upon us – extravagantly, overflowing, oozing, not lacking anything. His love is like an endowment which makes us rich. (Rom 9:22-24, 2 Cor 6:10, 2 Cor 8:9, Eph 2:7, Col 1:27) In addition in this passage, we read that our spiritual riches – which are greater than anything the world can offer us – are tied to our spiritual identity as children of God.
What God calls us supersedes what we may call ourselves or what others may call us. He who spoke creation into being (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 24, 26, 29) is able to speak into being things that are not. (Rom 4:17) He has called ‘my people’ those who were not His people (see Rom 9:25-26) and we need to understand what God calls us and agree with His assessment of our identity if we are to flourish spiritually. Other people may well not recognise that identity (as they did not recognise Jesus as God’s Son), but our lives are now defined by our relationship to God and that governs how we live.