Bearing the Family Name
11/19/25 Bible Thought (1 John 3)
Christianity is not merely a religion that one converts to but consists of a spiritual regeneration of the heart.
I have heard it said that conversion is the beginning of the Christian life from the human perspective, and regeneration is the beginning of the Christian life from the divine perspective.
That said, there is a definitive, transformative shift in the believer’s life when they come to faith.
This is the contention of the apostle John in the third chapter of his first epistle. After pointing out that believers still wrestle with sin in the onset of his writing and then moving to show us that we shouldn’t use that knowledge to remain in sin, now we see the spiritual dimension a bit more clearly.
He writes:
“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” (1 Jn. 3:9).
It is as absolute marvel that we are called children of God (1 Jn. 3:1). That is something we cannot simply gloss over.
No love on planet earth or anywhere in the universe even begins to compare to the absolutely incomprehensible and totally undeserved love of God towards sinful human beings.
God so loved the world He gave His Son for us (Jn. 3:16) and that while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). He took those who were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and raised us to new life by grace (see Eph. 2:1-10).
Christianity is not merely conversion to a religion where someone aims to improve their life.
People oftentimes start going to church because they want to get their life in order, but the basis of Christianity is not that we improve ourselves and thus gain God’s favor. No, rather, it is that when we were utterly unfavorable God lavished His grace upon us in Christ and saved us by no merit of our own.
This comes with a transformation.
The apostle in today’s reading points out that God’s seed abides within believers. In the Old Testament there was a promised new covenant whereby God would do an internal work on the heart (see Ez. 36:26-27; Jer. 31:31-34). This is the very hope we enjoy today.
The believer has been endowed with the Spirit of God and is changed. We are born again as God’s children. God works in us both a desire and a power to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).
I have often heard from those who are concerned about a “sloppy grace” message that if God will just forgive us perpetually no matter what we do, then why does it matter how we live? If God’s grace is that good and He is that gracious what is the incentive for obedience?
That is an entirely human perspective that dismisses the work that God has wrought on the heart.
In simple terms: born again believers don’t think like that.
If you abuse the grace of God as a license for sinful behavior and have an utter disregard for God’s holiness and justice, then it appears there has been no heart change. There has been no regeneration.
In the apostle John’s understanding, those who make a practice of sinning are of the devil! (see 1 Jn. 3:8-10).
Why would believers not abuse the grace of God? Because believers, as God’s children who have experienced a transformation of the heart by His grace, don’t think that way.
In the words of David, ultimately prophesying about the Christ: “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Ps. 40:8).
Let this be our cry today.
Challenge for Today:
How often do I consider that I bear the family name as a Christian? That is, if I claim God is my Father, my actions ultimately represent Him whether I like it or not.