Carrying His Nature

1 John 3:1-3

All who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)

JOHN, WHO HAD SEEN JESUS OFTEN throughout his earthly ministry, wrote a letter in his old age to believers who had never seen Jesus, except through eyes of faith. He assured them that we are God’s extravagantly loved children and that we will be fully transformed when Jesus returns. Our eyes will see him as he really is, and that will change us. In the meantime, we live with eager expectation and a desire to be pure just as Jesus is pure. In other words, our vision of Jesus in the future has the power to begin transforming us even now.

We who personalize almost everything—especially those of us who live in highly individualistic cultures—forget the broader implications of our own lives. But the process of this transformation ought to make us think. If we are changed by seeing him as he is and we are growing into his likeness, then others can be changed by seeing him as he is through us.

That may seem like an absurd claim—we are not just like Jesus, even though conforming to his character is our goal—but Scripture calls us into it anyway. John already tells us a chapter earlier that “those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6), and a couple of chapters later he assures us that “we live like Jesus here in this world” (1 John 4:17). That means we can bring harmony into places of strife, purity into places of out-of-control desires, integrity into places of deceit. We do not walk in the spirit of this world; we walk against the grain in the Spirit of Jesus. We even have the potential to change the direction of the grain.

Make that your aim. You have all the spiritual power you need and the authority of Jesus behind you to embody his nature. Carry it everywhere. Live out your transformation in environments that need to be transformed, and you will often see them change.

{Lord, I don’t know the mechanics of how to change the world, and I can’t figure out the strategies. But I can embody your nature and live in your power, and that is enough. Make me into your likeness and draw many to you. Amen.