1 John 3:1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
Do you fully realize God’s love for you? You are a child of God. That is who you are and whose you are. Jesus said to the disciples, after washing their feet in John 13:12, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” Look at what John says in 1 John 4:10-11, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Think about that the next time an argument or conflict arises. Your self-worth is based on the fact that God loves you and you are His child. He knows your name (Isaiah 43:1). Be that reflection of whose you are.
In 1 John 2, John talks about the importance of abiding in God. God created everything. God owns all that you have. When you believed in his name, He gave you the right to become children of God, as John 1:13 declares. God gave you the right to become a part of His family.
We are to abide – continue, dwell, endure, remain, stand, tarry, and pursue Him throughout our whole day. What happens when we don’t? Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9b-10, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip had been with Jesus as an apostle for two or three years. Where was his faith, we might wonder? Philip had seen Jesus do many miracles. “His earthbound thinking, his materialism, his skepticism, his obsession with mundane details, his preoccupation with business details, and his small-mindedness had shut him off from a full apprehension of whose presence he had enjoyed.” Twelve Ordinary Men. How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness and What He Wants to Do with You.” John MacArthur, p. 133. We all have unfortunately been like Philip sometime in our life. I admit I have been just as guilty at times. Sit, tarry, remain, continue in His presence as you go about your tasks. Sometimes we need to slow our minds down and think about enjoying the fact that we have a heavenly Father that wants the best for us just as we want the best for our children.
Remember what He has done for you when you need to feel God’s love. Tell Him what you need and ask Him to open your eyes to His great love for you despite your weaknesses as you rely on Him to fulfill those needs. See His love for you with fresh eyes. Continue in God’s presence. He gives angels charge over you (Psalm 91). Stand strong in your defender’s protective love. Who you are is because of whose you are.