So I walked at commencement on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, I won't actually be done until August when I defend and turn in my thesis. This delay has caused a good deal of frustration, but God is teaching me to trust in His timing (He made time after all). I felt a sense of accomplishment on Saturday and I was reminded that the end is indeed near. I couldn't have done the last 7 years (and specifically the last 2) without the love and support of so many friends and family members. Thank you everyone who put up with my stress and frustration over the years.
While I'm very thankful for the love and support of my earthly parents, the idea of my heavenly Father brings us to my memory verse for the second half of this month.
"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."- 1 John 3:1 (NASB)
John is telling us to look at the love of God for us. We don't even come close to deserving it. Lee may be the one studying Greek this summer, but one of my favorite definitions of the word "bestow" (didōmi) in the Greek lexicon is "to supply, furnish, necessary things." It is necessary for us to have God's love to have life, but it is not necessary for Him to give us that love. That's what He chose to do.
Because of this love, we are called children of God. How crazy is that? He didn't just do us a favor by forgiving our sins, but he adopted us into His family. Because of this, we should resemble a family member of Christ and live our lives accordingly. This means being obedient to the Father and loving our brothers and sisters.
Because of this relationship with God, we are strangers to the world (or should be). If we model our lives like Christ then we should expect to be rejected by this world because He was rejected by the world. We are here on earth to further God's kingdom, not to look like everyone else. We should stand apart, and it's the love of God that should make us so different.
I'm really looking forward to memorizing this passage. I need the daily reminders that it gives. And ask yourself: Are you a stranger to this world or do you just look like everyone else?
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