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).
When I was a child, I heard a great deal about the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Christians used to ask themselves questions like this: “are you ready for the coming of the Lord?”. Because of this consciousness, unlike today, there was a real difference between believers and unbelievers. There were many true conversions to the faith because, even though the world didn’t like us, our light was shining and many(including several Muslims) were being convicted and saved. But something happened along the way, and doctrines that downplayed the coming of the Lord and emphasized more on material prosperity became mainstream among Christians. The results of that distortion are evident before our eyes today. Purity and holiness are almost dirty words in many Christian communities today.
From today’s Bible verses, we can see that our hope focused on the coming of the Lord is a motivation for staying pure. If you take away the Blessed Hope of the believer, you have taken away his power and motivation to be holy. Most scriptures that admonish us to live pure and holy lives do so within the context of the expectation of the Lord’s coming. Here is another example (the first being today’s Bible Text):
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NET) Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Also, read Titus 2:11-13.
Go into today remembering that the coming of the Lord is the blessed hope of the believer. Words are too weak to express the glory that would be revealed in us when the Lord appears.
For a better understanding of today’s topic, I recommend that you listen to the Streamglobe Sermon series titled: The Blessed Hope. You can access it here: https://linktr.ee/streamglobe