“Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don't know who we are.” 1 John 3:1 (CEV).
In the old covenant people were not called the children of God. At that time they were called God’s special people. (Deuteronomy 26:18; Deuteronomy 29:13.) They did not know anything about being born again. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born again, it was something strange to him, even though he was a teacher in Israel. (John 3:1-10.)
Who are the children of God?
The children of God are born again by the Word of God as is written in 1 Peter 1:23. And in James 1:18 (NIV) it reads, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
Think of the life we have come to through this new birth: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” 1 John 3:9 (NIV).
The Word of God is the seed, and by it I am born again. This happens when I give up my will and my human opinions, and believe the Word. Then my thoughts will be in agreement with what is written in the Bible. (Hebrews 4:2.) This is the new birth. Then I cannot go on sinning because God’s Word remains in me.
Sin is doing what I know is wrong, as it’s written in 1 John 3:4. The person who is born of God cannot do that, since the Apostle John writes in 1 John 3:8 that a person who lives in sin—doing what he knows is wrong—is of the devil.
“Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are!” 1 John 3:1 (CEV). Think how much He loved us! Our future was death and eternal loss. We would have lived lives where we just sinned over and over again and worried about everything. But through the new birth, we have become children of God and heirs together with Jesus. (Romans 8:17.) Jesus wants us to be together with Him in eternal glory.
“We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. God knew them before he made the world, and he decided that they would be like his Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers.” Romans 8:28-29 (NCV).
We should use our time on earth to be changed so that we become just like Jesus. All things are working together for our good. The children of God fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12), and are full of joy because they can look forward to eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10), free from worrying, free from living in sin and free from the fear of death.
We should call out, just as John did, “Think how much the Father loves us!” This is the message that God has given us to preach to people.
“But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God's heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:17 (CEB).