Most of us can recall a moment when we wondered whether we were truly loved. You may have sensed rejection, an unexpected silence, or a room where you felt you didn’t quite belong. It appeared that those around you were not accepting and did not offer deep, genuine love.
I remember walking into a small group for the first time, taking a seat as everyone else picked up a conversation that had clearly been going on for years — familiar names, inside jokes, an easy rhythm I wasn’t part of. I nodded along and smiled in the right places, but no one turned to include me. I sat in that room, feeling like an outsider looking in on a family I hadn’t been invited to join.
John — the same disciple who once leaned against Jesus at the table and called himself “the one Jesus loved” — was the author of several New Testament books (including the Gospel of John and Revelation). Yet when he writes 1 John, readers encounter a more personal side of John. He shows deep care and affection for his audience and boldly shares the Heavenly Father’s love and acceptance of His children.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
- 1 John 3:1a (NIV)
Do Not Doubt His Love for Us
John doesn’t say that God has offered us love or made it available to us. He says the Father has lavished it — poured out love with extravagant abundance and extreme generosity.
The word John uses for “what great” (potapen in the original Greek) is noteworthy. It literally means “of what country” — as if this love were so foreign, so unlike anything we’d expect, that it seemed to come from another world entirely. And the word for “has lavished” (dedoken) suggests something settled — not a gift given once and possibly withdrawn, but one that is lasting, steadfast, eternal, and secure.
Put those two words together, and John is saying something like this: stop and marvel at a love this foreign, this generous — and know that it is not going anywhere. Whatever doubt you carry about whether you are loved, this verse answers it directly: you are loved with an eternal love.
Children Loved by the Father
Notice, too, that John doesn’t just say we are loved — he says we are children. Not servants who are tolerated, not distant relatives who are occasionally remembered, but children, with all the belonging and inheritance the word carries. And John adds, almost interrupting himself: “and that is what we are!” As if he can already hear someone arguing with him, he insists on it twice.
This is the language of adoption, not merely of affection. Paul describes the same reality from another angle:
For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.
- Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV)
Before we had done anything to earn or deserve it, we were chosen. Adoption, by its nature, is never accidental — it is a deliberate decision made out of love and at real cost. And Paul goes further still, describing what that adoption feels like from the inside:
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
- Romans 8:15-16 (NIV)
Chosen. Adopted. Accepted. Loved. We are invited to cry out like a child running to a parent without needing an appointment. This is what it means to be called children of God: not that we found our way into the family on our own merit, but that we were wanted, chosen, and brought in on purpose.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- John 3:16 (NIV)
Jesus Came to This Earth
This is where our status as children of God comes from — not a title given lightly, but one purchased at the cost of a Son. Being called a child of God is not merely a comforting phrase; it is the result of the greatest act of love the world has ever witnessed. Because Jesus came, we can be called children of God.
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who have this hope (eager expectation) will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure.
- 1 John 3:2-3 (NLT)
A Hope That Shapes Us Now
John admits there is still mystery here — we don’t fully know who we will become. But the not-knowing doesn’t leave us stuck; it points us forward. The hope of one day becoming like Christ is not meant to remain a distant, future comfort. John says this same hope works backward into today: everyone who holds onto it begins purifying themselves now, in the present, because of what’s coming.
Being a child of God, then, is not only about identity — it is about direction. We are loved as we are, and we are being shaped into who we will become.
Head to Heart
Take a few quiet minutes to reflect on these questions. You may want to write your answers in your journal rather than just thinking about them.
Where in your life have you been living more like a servant who is tolerated than a child who is loved?
Adoption is never accidental — it’s an intentional decision at real cost. Where do you need to remember today that you were chosen, not merely accepted as an afterthought?
What would change today if you fully believed you were lavishly loved, chosen, and adopted, not merely accepted?
John says the hope of becoming like Christ leads us to purify ourselves now. What is one area where that hope could reshape a habit or attitude this week?
Lord, thank You for lavishing Your love on me and calling me Your child. Forgive me for the times I have doubted that love or lived as though I had to earn it. Let the hope of becoming like Christ shape how I live today, not just what I believe about tomorrow. Amen.
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