Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 Children: To be partakers in the concerns of Christ

  1 John 3:1-12

V 10 ‘This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God: nor is anyone who does not love his brother”.

Love is the hall mark of Christianity. Throughout the Bible, we see the message of loving God and loving our neighbor. Jesus Himself consolidated the Ten Commandments into these two. Matthew 22:37-40 says, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” God made man in His own image. Even when we were alienated from God by the first man’s sin, His love is still seeking after us. John 3:16 tells us, “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. ”God wants us to be His children. How can we become the children of God? It is by placing our faith in Jesus Christ that we become the children of God. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God”
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He loved the children and always found time to call them to Himself and blessed them. This may be because they manifest the virtue of simplicity, humility, love and trust. When the parents brought their children to Jesus, His disciples stopped them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” According to the Jewish customs women and children were considered insignificant in Biblical times. In that context, Jesus’ reference to the children was profound.
May the good Lord grant us the wisdom to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and inherit the kingdom of heaven as co-heirs with Him.
 

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for your love for us through your Son in whom we are adopted into your family. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
 
Thought for the Day
-“Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” (Rom 8:17)

Chacko Varughese
Epiphany MTC, New York.
        

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