1 John 3:2-3  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like him for we shall see him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Young children reflect the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs their parents model for them, teach or demand. It is interesting that as they grow older they go through phases, and display behaviors which seem to scream “I don’t want to be you, I don’t want to be like you, I want to be myself.”  This is heart wrenching for parents to watch and cope with, but it is a necessary phase. Take heart. Your teen and twenties offspring will morph into a much more reasonable individual as he/she matures.

When we are born into the family of God however, the process is in the reverse. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to create a hunger to be like Jesus. As we become more conscious of the magnitude of the love God has lavished on us that begins to re-order our priorities, change our behaviors and transform our appetites.  “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9).

The capstone of our faith is that Jesus is coming again. It is that hope that purifies us. When he comes our transformation will be complete and we will be like him.