Tonight's blog for Friday, May 10. 2013

Identity can be stolen, or copied, or replaced. Everywhere you look, today, you see folks who say that they are

Prince Fielder or Miguel Cabrera or Labron James. Just wearing an athlete's uniform doesn't make you a major league player. Just wearing their jersey doesn't mean you are a superstar. Just saying you are a Christian doesn't make you a Christian either.  As we work our way through the book of 1 John, we have talked about the weight of sin, of aloneness, of separation from others and of darkness. You can be freed from another weight when you embrace your proper identity. You are a child of God, He loves you, you are adopted. That is His promise. 

Our key verse for Sunday is from 1 John 3:1-3. "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."

To help me get ready for this weekend, I hope that I'll be like Jesus, by becoming more like Jesus. That hope is what helps us to become even more like Him. We have talked about fear, and missing the point of the second coming. When Jesus comes … and HE will… we will see Him as He is, and become like Him. How? I don't know. I know that all will change when we see Jesus, and when we see ourselves as He sees us. 

I know that a part of this has to do with our Pedigree. Remember Molly? She is a poodle, with a pedigree. You

have a pedigree, you were created in the image of the King of the universe. You are not only called the children of God, but you already are brothers and sisters of the king. You don't need a "tiara" to be a prince or princess, you were born with the pedigree, the potential is in your blood. You share the blood that flowed in and through Jesus. Isn't that the promise of the new covenant, "in my blood" that we call the LORD's supper? That same blood is ours when we accept Jesus as our savior. 

So, really, your identity can't be stolen, copied, or replaced, if you find your identity in Jesus. GOD Bless you tonight, my dear brothers and sisters. Let's live in hope and joy as we wait for Jesus to come back and complete the task. You will be like Him, for you will see Him as He really is.. 

Hope! big marv