“BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE the Father has bestowed (didōmi: to commit to someone) on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world DOES NOT KNOW US, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but WE KNOW that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him AS HE IS.” (1 John 3:1-2) Thankfully AMY, this love is not HUMAN LOVE, which is often very terribly unfair. It is often partial to favorites. It can be prejudiced against certain colors, other classes, or other levels of society. It can be smothering, so that the person loved feels deprived of individuality. It can be wholly unfair, and therefore is unrighteous love. But TRUE LOVE, GOD’S LOVE, AGAPĒ LOVE as we have learning, is righteous; it is thoughtful, it is courteous. It bears the cost of pain and heartache itself. It satisfies justice, it is careful to do the right thing. In the eyes of a stuffy, respectable, self-centered world, anyone who acts with that kind of love IS ALWAYS A LITTLE SUSPECT, because it’s just not “normal.”
AMY, John says, the world will not recognize us if we act this way, just as they did not recognize the Lord Jesus when He did. That is why Paul says, “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT good and acceptable and PERFECT WILL OF GOD.” (Rom. 12:2) Let’s look at being conformed vs. being transformed! When we conform we “fit in,” we “adapt to,” we become like everyone else. When we are transformed, we are changed into another form, the Greek word is, metamorphoō: to CHANGE into another form. Peter, James and John went with Jesus and He “…was transfigured before them. HIS FACE SHONE like the sun, and His clothes BECAME AS WHITE AS THE LIGHT.” (Matt. 17:2) AMY, Jesus was transformed into His heavenly nature. Later on in this chapter Jesus prayed for us, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should KEEP THEM from the evil one.
THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, JUST AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD…(John 17:15-16)
-Bill Stockham