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Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
Devotional: November 4th

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“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devihwhosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother/’

Years ago almost every home had a large family album in the living room. It had a stuffed leather cover embossed in gold. A leather strap with clasp extended from the right edge of the back cover over to the right side of the top cover where the clasp latched securely into its socket. The pages were of stiff, glossy paper-board, ornamented with floral patterns and gilt edges. On each side of a page were cut-out sections where photographs were inserted. When visitors looked through the album, they would often remark that “Josh looks just like his grandpa” or that “Sarah surely has the family likeness.”

John’s first epistle reminds me of that old family album because it pictures those who are members of God’s family and who have the family likeness. However, here it is a matter of spiritual and moral resemblance rather than physical.

There are at least eight ways in which Christians are spiritual “look-alikes.” The first is that they all say the same tiling about Jesus. They confess that He is the Christ, that is, the Messiah or Anointed One (HYPERLINK "javascript:" ; 1 John 5:1). To them Jesus and Christ are one and the same Person.

All Christians love God (5:2). Even though that love may often be weak and vacillating, there is never a time when a believer cannot look up into the face of God and say, “You know that I love You.”

All Christians love the brethren (2:10; 3:10, 14; 4:7, 12). This is the hallmark of all who have passed from death to life. Because they love God, they love those who are born of God.

Those who love God characteristically keep His commandments (3:24). Their obedience is motivated, not by fear of punishment, but by love to Him who gave His all.

Christians do not practice sin (3:6, 9; 5:18). True, they commit acts of sin, but sin is not the dominating power in their lives. They are not sinless but they do sin less.

Members of God’s family practice righteousness (2:29; 3:7). It is not just that they do not habitually sin—that could be negative and passive. They reach out to others with deeds of righteousness—that is positive and active.

The seventh characteristic of members of God’s family is that they do not love the world (2:15). They realize that the world is a system that man has built up in opposition to God, and that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God.

Finally Christians overcome the world by faith (5:4). They see beyond the sham of passing things to those things that are eternal. They live for the things that are not seen.

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