Everyone Who Has this Hope

1 John 3:2-3 (NET) Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).

One of my brothers was describing something another supposed Christian brother did. This supposed Christian brother’s conduct was so wicked and selfish that my brother said if people with this kind of character enter heaven, they will spoil heaven. What he said sounded funny but it sent me into deep thinking and meditation on the scriptures.

Hitherto, I had been learning that the Lord Jesus came to prepare for himself a church that would be cleansed of all impurity and able to inherit His kingdom(Ephesians 5:27, Rev 19:8). I had also been learning that the purification and transformation of our souls happen through the renewing of our minds by the word of God (Romans 12:2). Would our souls be transformed during the resurrection? Would the resurrection affect the state of our hearts or simply change our bodies?

Child of God, one of the most significant privileges we have right now is the opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit and the word of God to purify us and change us into the fullness of the stature of Christ. The more like Christ we become, the closer we will be with Him in His eternal kingdom. Remember, even though all the saints will be in His kingdom, not everyone will be at the same level. In every kingdom, there are those that sit in the same room with the king to rule with him because of their high level of influence, and there are those that may not get to see the face of the king in months because they occupy lower positions in the kingdom. Our Lord Jesus talks about those who would be called great in the kingdom and those who would be least in the kingdom (see Matthew 5:19). Whether you will be great or least in the kingdom is determined by your commitment to sanctification.

Go into today remembering that the process of purifying ourselves makes us more like Christ [in character and nature]. If the resurrection will automatically do this, we would not be admonished to do this in anticipation of the resurrection(see John 2:3, Titus 2:12-14, 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

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