Whose Child Are You? | 1 John 3:11-18

Have you noticed that kids often look like their parents? This week at student camp it was fun talking to students and getting to know them. For the kids whose parents I know, it’s so fun to see the mini version of their parents on display. A few years ago, there was a daytime TV show called the “Maury Povich Show." It was popular in the 1900s. The host, Maury Povich, would bring out a man, a woman, and sometimes a child. There would be accusations, arguments, shouting, and all kinds of drama. Then the moment everyone had been waiting for would arrive. The envelope would be opened, and the host would announce the results of the DNA paternity test. Maury would either say: “You ARE the father!" or “You are NOT the father!” The audience would erupt. Some people celebrated, others cried, or fights would occur. A few even ran off the stage. It was pure entertainment. Why did millions of people watch a show like that? Yes, we love drama, but also there is something inside all of us that wants to know where we belong. We all long to belong.

John is writing to these believers that he loves so that they would KNOW they have eternal life. The reason is because there were a group of people who used to be in the church but left the church and started their own church. They changed the message of Jesus and said that they had an inside track to God through their secret knowledge. They presented themselves as being children of God, but they were children of the Devil. John gives us a spiritual paternity test to see if we are the children of God or the children of the Devil. Do we live: My life for me or my life for others?