1 John 3:2,3 – Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Purity is a rare trait in this dirty world. Immorality and sexual perversion has moved from being tolerated to being celebrated. Our conversion has brought us out of that filthy lifestyle and our hope of His return keeps us walking in His purity. It’s funny how living a pure life makes other people uncomfortable and sometimes even judgmental.
At the end of the day setting our heart on the return of Christ and His coming kingdom keeps us from falling into the cesspool of this world.
Advent, waiting on the birth of Christ has a similar effect on all of us. Maybe that’s where the naughty and nice list and the switches and coal come from. No one wants to fall into that naughty category and miss the blessing of Christmas Day. Here is how Matthew Henry describes the effect of waiting on the coming of the Lord and living in purity.
“The children of God know that their LORD is holy and pure. Those, then, who hope to live with him must seek the greatest purity; their hope of heaven will urge and compel them to do so. It is a contradiction to such hope, therefore, to indulge in sin and impurity. As we are sanctified by faith, we must also be sanctified by hope. And we must be purified by hope so that we may be saved by hope.”
John spoke of the hope of being like Jesus when we see Him at His return. Of all people John knew about the purity of Jesus. John had the privelege of being in the inner circle of the Lord and seeing His spirituality on a daily basis. He saw His prayer life, His behavior toward women, and how He was unaffected by the culture of the world all around Him. John not only saw Jesus in His earthly life, He also saw His glory on display at the Mount of Transfiguration. This was a taste of Christ in His glory at His appearing. So today we are in the beginning of Advent. We are celebrating the approaching anniversary of His first coming. At the same time we tremble in joyful anticipation as His second advent draws near.
