THE DAILY

The blessing and gift of God’s love, by Eileen [1 John 3:1-3 ]

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of  [a] God! Therefore the world does not know  [b] us, because it did not know Him.  2  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.  3  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

May 2021, still in the throes of COVID, my daughter had her baby at home. We rushed upstairs to see the newest bundle of joy, and there, nestled next to her, was Phineas Joseph. She looked at him with radiant, sparking, pure love.

In our reading this morning, John speaks of “what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (NKJV)

Manner, as defined by Noah Webster in his 1828 Dictionary, speaks to the “form, method, or custom, habitual practice.” The manner of love our beloved Father bestows (impart with a sense of gratuity and followed by on…” - Noah Webster) is the eternal, everlasting love only God can give us. We are filled, at moments of great joy – the birth of our baby, our children graduating from one school age to another, a friend’s wedding, Easter service baptisms…have been imparted to us from a source of love. God’s inimitable, everlasting, omnipotent love!

Yet, John reminds us, “therefore, because we are called God’s children, the world does not know us… But we know him and even more amazing, we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is.” What? Can this be? Whatever we have done on earth, the joys, the trials, the daily ups and downs – God sees us, God loves us. We are His!

John tells us with true authority as one who saw and walked with Jesus, “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Pure. Innocent. Without guilt. Complete. Totally safe in God’s arms as we journey this dusty road together.

Brothers and sisters, let us love as John wrote and lived, and bestow on one another - love, to God’s glory and great joy.

-Eileen Dowd

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?(write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ What does John tell us so beautifully in this small but powerful passage?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to a personal step of action/obedience fueled by the gospel? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ If I believe Jesus loves me, all of me, how can I show that to a hurting world? My friends, co-workers, family?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus and what is my next step?(e.g., your family around the dinner table, a friend, co-worker or neighbor- for help join Go! www.estuarygo.org)

+ Do I believe that God sees my daily ups and downs in life? Do I trust that Jesus loves me no matter what?

A prayer: Heavenly Father, you designed the stars and the moons and each morning the sun comes out by your hand. Please cover me today, Lord, as I go about my life and let your beautiful, forever love, shine in all I do. Amen.

Christ Came to Take Away Sin, by Jacob [1 John 3:4–6]

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.

John’s words are tremendously convicting. Are you struggling with a kind of sin? I know I am- I am constantly battling sins like envy. And here John tells me that I have neither seen or known Christ if I’m unchanged by His presence. On the other hand, this sin I wrestle with, John tells me Jesus came for the very purpose of removing it from me. I can have hope that the work Christ started in me, He will finish, and when He is done those struggles will be settled!

- Jacob Garrett

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ What law is John referring to?

+ Who is “he”?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to a personal step of action/obedience fueled by the gospel? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+ Am I allowing Jesus to transform my conduct and perspective?

+ Do John’s words call to mind sins you’ve struggled with? What would it look like for Christ to free you from that burden?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus and what is my next step? (e.g., your family around the dinner table, a friend, co-worker or neighbor- for help join Go! www.estuarygo.org)

+ Is there someone I can share Jesus’ transformative love with?

Doing What Is Right, by Brandon [1 John 3:7–8 ]

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:7–8 is a wake-up call: holiness is more than good intentions-it’s chosen obedience. John cuts through the noise: if you practice what is right, you’re aligned with Jesus’ heart; if you habitually flirt with sin, you reveal whose voice you’re tuned into. No deception, no compromises.

Righteousness isn’t a fleeting emotion or a Sunday routine. It’s the daily decision to walk in truth-speaking grace, extending mercy, and honoring God in every choice. Sin promises freedom but keeps you bound. Obedience unleashes true life.

Today, examine your patterns. Which habits draw you closer to Christ? Where are you yielding to easy shortcuts that erode your witness? Let this truth fuel a revolution in your soul. Choose integrity over convenience, obedience over impulse, love over self-interest. As you practice righteousness, you’ll experience the power and purity of Jesus living through you. This is your identity-righteous in Christ, empowered to live.

-- Brandon Beylo

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ Are we practicing righteousness or flirting with sin? If it’s righteousness, how can we lean into that? If it’s sin, how can we quickly and easily eliminate it?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to a personal step of action/obedience fueled by the gospel? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ What is one area of my life where I’m practicing sin and not righteousness?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus and what is my next step? (e.g., your family around the dinner table, a friend, co-worker or neighbor- for help join Go! www.estuarygo.org) 

+ What is my next step?

Children of God , by Zach [ 1 John 3:9–10 ]

9  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Today John is making a strong exhortation to the community he is writing to; don’t sin and love your brother. Followers of Christ have to do more than just know the words to say, they have to live out the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. John's words here are an echo of that. Our actions will show the world around us if we are followers of Christ, and therefore co-heirs with him, or if we are followers of this world, or children of the devil. 

— Zach Sarver

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ Read the sermon on the Mount (matt. 5-8). What are ways we love our brother?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to a personal step of action/obedience fueled by the gospel? (write in your journal or discuss your group break-outs)

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+Am I loving my neighbor?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus and what is my next step? (e.g., your family around the dinner table, a friend, co-worker or neighbor- for help join Go! www.estuarygo.org)

+ What is my next step?

New Identity; Children of God, by Chris [ John 1:10-13 ]  

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,[b] and his own people[c] did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Today, we are taking a break from our examination of the first epistle of John to look at a passage from the Gospel of Jesus according to John.  These verses are of paramount importance, as they summarize several foundational truths of the Christian faith.  As followers of Jesus, we MUST understand the concepts behind these verses, maybe even committing them to memory to have in our “evangelism arsenal”.  Who remembers the Topical Memory System?  Back in my senior year of high school, I remember getting a small stack of Bible verses from my Young Life leader, type-written on card stock, about the size of business cards.  John 1:12 was one of the verses in the pack for us to memorize.  The point was for us to KNOW that we have a new identity if we are in Christ.  Nearly 50 years later, this truth is even more amazing to me!!!  One of my favorite verses and our verse from this past Monday comes to mind.

1 John 3:1:  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. (NIV)

- Chris Adomanis

[WHAT] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that I/we learn? (Write in your journal or discuss in your group breakouts)

+  Who/what is the “world” in verse 10?  What does it mean to “know” Jesus?  What keeps this “world’ from knowing Jesus? Read John 3:3-6.

+  Who are “His own” in verse 11?  Notice John does NOT use the word “know” for this this group but uses “receive” instead.  What does it mean to “receive” Jesus?  Is it the same as “knowing” and “believing” in Jesus?  NOTE: This could be a trick question!  Read Matthew 21:33-46 and James 2:18-19.  What is the antonym of both “receive” AND “believe”? 

+  In verse 12, the word “right” is also translated as “power”.  What does that tell you, reading verse 13 in context?

[HOW] is the Lord calling me to a personal step of action/obedience fueled by the gospel?  (Write in your journal or discuss in your group breakouts)

+ Have you ever heard someone say, “we are ALL God’s children”, meaning every human in history who ever lived can make that claim?  All of Scripture, and these verses from John 1 in particular, is clear that this distinction is only for those who receive and believe in the name of Jesus.  Are you a child of God?  Have you believed and received?  Have you been born from above (John 3:3)?  If so, rejoice in this incredible gift of God and be bold in telling others about the reason for the hope you have in you (1 Peter 3:15).      

From the Enduring Word commentary on John 1.  The new birth is something that brings real change to a life. “The man (Christian) is like a watch which has a new mainspring, not a mere face and hands repaired, but new inward machinery, with freshly adjusted works, which act to a different time and tune; and whereas he went wrong before, now he goes right, because he is right within.” (Spurgeon)

[WHO] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus and what is my next step?  (For example, your family around the dinner table, co-worker or neighbor; for help, join Go! www.estuarygo.org)

+ Who in your circles of influence needs to receive and believe in Jesus so as to become a true child of God?