1 John 3:1-10
Children of God
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
Children of God
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus Came for Sinners
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Throughout chapter three and four in John's first epistle, he talks about love...St. John tells in both his gospel and his epistle tell us we are children of God...How great that sounds...If we are children of God, we have Someone to look up to, Someone who cares, Someone that we know wants to comfort us, and Someone to help when we are in need of our Father...And our Father also gives us something to look forward to...And that is seeing our Father in Heaven...
The author tells us that to sin is breaking the law (of Moses)...Jesus had no sin...So Jesus never broke the law of Moses...Followers of Jesus realize this and work and try to stop sinning...St. John teaches us that no one born of God will continue to sin...But that is very difficult...We want to do what is right, but it is difficult to always do what is right and never to sin again...
St. John goes on by saying that the world that does not know Jesus will keep on sinning...The world that does not follow Jesus or want to follow Him will keep on sinning...But through Him we strive for purity and not to sin...Jesus came to destroy the work of evil on earth...He came to destroy the work of the evil one...But as one looks around the world, we still see sin...It seems that sinning is in our nature...
St. John ends this section with teaching us to love one another like Jesus has taught him, others, and those that follow Him...Thank God that He sent to earth for His children Someone to save them (us) of our sins...And that was His Son...Jesus came for sinners and died for sinners on the cross...
Our Father will help us transform into being more like His Son, transformed into an image, much like Him...Children of God love one another...Love for each of our neighbors shows that we are followers of Jesus and His Father...How great to be a child of God...Our Father in Heaven, how great thou art and how comforting to hear you want to help us...