1 John 3

John marvels: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” When Christ appears, “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” The children of God practice righteousness and do not make a practice of sinning, for Christ “appeared to take away sins” and “to destroy the works of the devil.” The mark of God’s children, in contrast to the children of the devil, is that they practice righteousness and love their brothers — unlike Cain, who murdered his brother. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers,” loving “not in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Such love reassures our hearts before God, who is “greater than our heart,” and gives confidence in prayer as we keep His commandment “that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another.”