Welcome to our new project, the Daily Bible Devotional. The goal is to help you understand and apply

scripture as you go through a New Testament Bible read five days a week, Monday through Friday,

as we move from Matthew straight through to Revelation. In under four minutes each morning, we will recap the chapter,

make some application, present thought questions for the day, and offer a prayer together.

I'm excited about exploring God's Word with you, so let's get started.

Welcome back to our study from First John. I hope you are enjoying this letter. It is really near my top

favorite list. It's so rich, Christ-centric and beautiful. We're in chapter 3 today. The father's love

is demonstrated by calling his disciples his children, a truth the world cannot grasp because it does not

know him. When Christ appears,

Christians will be like him, and this hope inspires believers to live with purity. Those who

persist in sin reveal that they do not know Christ, while those who live righteously demonstrate

that they belong to him. A defining characteristic of God's children is their love for fellow believers. They're called to

love other Christians in a world filled with hatred and malice. Hatred brings spiritual death while love

brings life and unity. By following God's commands and believing in Jesus, they gain assurance

before Him. This confidence comes from knowing that God

abides in them through the spirit he has freely given. That tends to be a controversial topic,

the Holy Spirit given to believers. But that's something that we have and that we share in common,

and that needs to mean something every single day. We find our identity in being

children of God and that truth changes how we live. We're not shaped by the world's view of us,

rather we're shaped by the love the Father has shown us. Our hope of becoming like Christ

compels us to live with purity and purpose. We cannot claim to follow him while embracing sin. Rather,

we must abandon sin and move from death into life. In that life, loving other believers is not

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