"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
1 John 3:1-3
The whole idea of being children of God is an amazing thought. As John says, we don't know all the details of what we will be, but that single idea, being like God, means that our potential is staggering. We sometimes get wrapped up in our limitations, and in what we don't have. We think, if only I could do this or if only I had that... and we reinforce our weaknesses by not even trying things that we think we are bad at. We fear failure so much that we often aren't willing to explore and discover new possibilities.
I think that the hope that John is talking about here is the real power that we can bring to our lives if we really believe and apply in our lives the idea that we are the children of God. If we have that hope, we know we can overcome limitations. We know that we can deal with obstacles and impediments, and still succeed and thrive. We know that society and finances and lack of opportunity can't hold us back. We are God's children, and we can accomplish anything that God asks of us. And he asks us to be out there doing good. To be "anxiously engaged in a good cause" (D&C 58:27). We have the power as God's children to be anything and do anything, and if God is with us, no one can stand in our way. Today, let's take this hope, and let it purify our hearts... let it clean out the doubt and the fear and the despairing thoughts that we can't accomplish anything and that we can't make a difference. We can. Let's persist, and find a way... and grow into our potential.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
1 John 3:1-3
The whole idea of being children of God is an amazing thought. As John says, we don't know all the details of what we will be, but that single idea, being like God, means that our potential is staggering. We sometimes get wrapped up in our limitations, and in what we don't have. We think, if only I could do this or if only I had that... and we reinforce our weaknesses by not even trying things that we think we are bad at. We fear failure so much that we often aren't willing to explore and discover new possibilities.
I think that the hope that John is talking about here is the real power that we can bring to our lives if we really believe and apply in our lives the idea that we are the children of God. If we have that hope, we know we can overcome limitations. We know that we can deal with obstacles and impediments, and still succeed and thrive. We know that society and finances and lack of opportunity can't hold us back. We are God's children, and we can accomplish anything that God asks of us. And he asks us to be out there doing good. To be "anxiously engaged in a good cause" (D&C 58:27). We have the power as God's children to be anything and do anything, and if God is with us, no one can stand in our way. Today, let's take this hope, and let it purify our hearts... let it clean out the doubt and the fear and the despairing thoughts that we can't accomplish anything and that we can't make a difference. We can. Let's persist, and find a way... and grow into our potential.
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