While we don’t earn God’s love through good works or stay in His graces because of them, a life that has truly been changed will produce different fruit. In fact, Jesus Himself said, you will know a tree by its fruit (Lk. 6.44). The amount and quality of our fruit is often a good indication of our spiritual maturity. Today’s New Testament reading talks about some of that fruit. So, as you read, ask yourself, are you growing in Christ? Does the fruit of your life testify to a changed life? And if so, is it increasing?

Today’s Readings:

Hosea 1 & 2
Psalm 138.4-6
Proverbs 29.17
1 John 3

Are You Growing in Christ?

1 John 3:

We Shall Be Like Him

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (vv. 1-3).

Think about that, “we shall be like Him.”

Jude said it this way:

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault (Jude 24).

God who saved us and declared us righteous is working in us in the present. He is using the “all things” of Romans 8.28-29, to help us become progressively more and more like His Son. But one day, when we stand before Him, He’ll finish the work He started in us (Phil. 1.6) and cause us to stand before Him without a single fault!

In the Meantime …

In the meantime, we need to read and study and memorize and meditate on God’s Word (Ps. 119.11; 2 Tim. 2.15). His Spirit moving in our hearts as we read and hear the Word preached is the primary means that He uses to grow and change us. But we’re not just to grow in the knowledge of the Word. With His help, we’re to seek to be doers of it (Jas. 1.22-25).

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love others (Matt. 22.37-40). Verses 16-18 of today’s reading have this to say:

16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Let’s ask ourselves: How am I doing in that process of spiritual growth? Am I loving others sacrificially and “laying down my life” for them? Do I love merely “in word or tongue or in deed and in truth”? Am I becoming more like Christ?

To understand more about what loving biblically and spiritual maturity look like, you might want to check out these posts:

“Does Salvation + Time + Knowledge = Spiritual Maturity?”

“Rate Yourself on Biblical Love”

Today’s Other Readings:

Hosea 1 & 2:

Adulterers & Adulteresses

In this rich little book, the prophet is commanded to marry a prostitute so he would be a living example of God’s love for His people in spite of their spiritual adultery.

That didn’t mean they wouldn’t suffer consequences for their idolatry. Just as Hosea’s wife, Gomer, would sell herself into slavery to sin, God would allow His people to be taken into captivity. But just as Hosea would buy Gomer back, God would buy them back from slavery. He would redeem them and send them back to their homeland after the Babylonian captivity (though that captivity would last 70 years). And someday, He will completely redeem his people Israel.

We, too, were adulterers and adulteresses (Jas. 4.4) yet He bought us back from our slavery to sin (Rom. 6.17), and made us His bride. The price was the precious blood of His Son. He has redeemed us, both believing Jews and Gentiles. And someday those of us who have received the gospel and been converted will be with our Bridegroom at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Psalm 138.4-6:

Savior or Judge?

Though the LORD is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar (v. 6).

While we were still lowly sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5.8). But those who pridefully reject God, He knows from afar, as Creator and Judge, not intimately, as Savior and Friend.

Proverbs 29.17:

Parental Correction

Correct your son, and he will give you rest; yes, he will give delight to your soul.

Parenting children biblically is hard work. It takes time, prayer, and consistency. But the result is being able to rest in God. It’s not a guarantee that our children will always go God’s way, but we can rest in the fact that we were faithful to do our part.

Coming Up:

In the next few days, we’ll talk about false teachers, friendship, judgment, the Rapture, and the Tribulation. And we will discuss the question, “How we can turn the world upside down as the disciples did in the first century?”

I hope you’ll join us.