Dual Panel1What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it--we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.
2But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him--and in seeing him, become like him.
3All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
4All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God's order.
5Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program.
6No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They've got him all backwards.
7So, my dear children, don't let anyone divert you from the truth. It's the person who [acts] right who [is] right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah.
8Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil's ways.
9People conceived and brought into life by God don't make a practice of sin. How could they? God's seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It's not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin.
10Here's how you tell the difference between God's children and the Devil's children: The one who won't practice righteous ways isn't from God, nor is the one who won't love brother or sister. A simple test.
11For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
12We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous.
13So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
14The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead.
15Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
16This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.
17If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
18My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love.
19This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality.
20It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
21And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God!
22We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him.
23Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command.
24As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.