1 John 3

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children
and that is what we are!
But the people who belong to this world don't
recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him
Dear friends, we are already God's children
but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears
But we do know that we will be like
him, for we will see him as he really is
And all who have this eager expectation
will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure
Everyone who sins is breaking God's law
for all sin is contrary to the law of God
And you know that Jesus came to take
away our sins, and there is no sin in him
Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin
But anyone who keeps on sinning does
not know him or understand who he is
Dear children, don't let anyone deceive you about this
When people do what is right,
it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous
But when people keep on sinning,
it shows that they belong to the devil,
who has been sinning since the beginning
But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil
Those who have been born into God's family do not
make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in them
So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God
So now we can tell who are children
of God and who are children of the devil
Anyone who does not live righteously and does
not love other believers does not belong to God
Love One Another
This is the message you have heard from the beginning
We should love one another
We must not be like Cain,
who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother
And why did he kill him?
Because Cain had been doing what was evil,
and his brother had been doing what was righteous
So don't be surprised,
dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you
If we love our Christians brothers and sisters who are believers,
it proves that we have passed from death to life
But a person who has no love is still dead
Anyone who hates another brother or
sister is really a murderer at heart
And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them
We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us
So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters
If someone has enough money to live well and sees
a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion
how can God's love be in that person?
Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other
let us show the truth by our actions
Our actions will show that we belong to the truth,
so we will be confident when we stand before God
Even if we feel guilty,
God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything
Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty,
we can come to God with bold confidence
And we will receive from him whatever we ask
because we obey him and do the things that please him
And this is his commandment
We must believe in the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us
Those who obey God's commandments remain
in fellowship with him, and he with them
And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us