"Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." (1 John 3)
- Is this a litmus test? Sure seems so.
- Sounds to me as if John is very much aware of a lot of deception going around back in the day, lots of people calling themselves and each other a "Child of God" but he states that it might very well not be the case.
- Could this be the GREATEST deception of all...the illusion that satan can create in the mind and heart of a man to convince him that his true Father is God almighty, when in fact he (satan) is the real father? Remarkable. And to think we may or may not have a part to play in helping to keep this illusion alive?
- Not much has changed over the centuries. One could argue that the deception is stronger today which would lead us to surmise that the percentage of people in christiandom who think they are "Children of God" and not be so...is reaching the tipping point? I just don't know, but it sure feels like the world has changed, the air has grown colder and there is a dark, clammy gloom settling in on everything. But you would never know it if you pulled up the average Sunday sermon. All is well, nothing to see here, nothing to be concerned about. You are all children of God "on a journey"...just ease back and enjoy the show.
- What exactly is this so called litmus test that John speaks of? John tells us that if a man claims to be a child of God but there is nothing about his life that suggests he is LIKE God, then he is an illegitimate child. If he does not PRACTICE RIGHTEOUSNESS and/or LOVE HIS BROTHER, then it doesn't matter what he says, he is not born from above, he is not born again by the Holy Spirit. Something has not occurred on the inside of this man. Something that is very hard to describe in human terms, for who can understand clearly the very inception of human life, let alone the inception of the God life?
- At the other end of the spectrum we have another group who claim that they too are Gods children merely because they have an outward form that appears to the untrained eye to be the practice of righteousness and the love for the brethren. But it is all outward, there is nothing inside the heart from which these practices are spawned. It is merely rote, religious copycatting. The form, the cloning of a way of living in an attempt to convince themselves and others that they are righteous.
When you next hear a congregation sounding forth that each and every one of them are children of God, remember these things. Imagine a strange kid at a mall running up to you and claiming that you were his father. You would say, "no, sorry son but I am not your father". But he screams back at you that he is your child and even raises his hands in worship of you and sobs and carries on and begins quoting all kinds of reasons why he thinks he is your child. And you scratch your head and start to think he has lost his mind. And you tell him that he is not your son but he refuses to listen and calls you a liar. Finally he runs away skipping and singing and telling the world that he has your last name. But it is all in vain.
This is the single most important question that a human on planet earth needs to answer. Are you a child of God? Have you been born from above? You would think that this issue would be thundered from the pulpits around the world in churches at every opportunity. But sadly it is not. We must also wonder the same about our own children and take nothing for granted.
May God give us true discernment.