Hope, again

“What great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God – and that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1

That last part holds such a tone of surprise for me. Like John just realized the truth of what he was just speaking.

We are called children of God – Oh! Oh, because that’s what we are! We are children of God; dependents under him; his family; protected and provided for by him; loved in that unconditional sort of way that only parents are of capable of! Oh!

Let me tell you, it is an honor to be the child of my mom and dad. They are exceptional people whom I look up to in wonder and respect, and being loved and cared for by them is a privilege. How much more of an honor then to be the child of God, daughter of the King, a legitimate princess of righteousness?

It is mind-boggling and humbling beyond all belief. I almost don’t want to look at this verse, this truth, out of shame that I don’t deserve such a magnificent honor. And I don’t deserve it, but I need to look at it to remember that grace is a part – a huge part – of that honor.

“…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. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

And again we have hope, described here as “not a mere wish, but unshakable confidence concerning the future.” We who are his children, though we don’t know – can’t know – what he has for us, have unshakable confidence in our futures – the hope of God. And this hope is directed to the hope of Romans 5, where it is defined as “not to be equated with unfounded optimism … it is the confident expectation and blessed assurance of our future destiny, based on God’s love, which is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.”

Our hope is not unfounded. It is demonstrated by God’s love, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, proven through Christ’s death for us.

Our hope does not equate to blind optimism. We are confident in our expectations because our futures have already been proven – they lie in the hands of one who has shown us nothing but goodness and mercy and discipline, as every good father does. We have nothing to fear. We are blessedly assured.