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When a male and female come together to produce a child, an amazing miracle takes place. The sperm of the male attaches itself to the egg of the female. Immediately the cells begin to multiply until a complete human is formed with all the organs and many traits of the parents. Yet without the seed of a male, a child will never be born. That is the image the Apostle John uses when he writes about who is or is not a true child of God. He stresses that anyone who claims to be a child of God will have traits of his Father, God, and will act like Him. Here’s a portion of his teaching from 1 John 3, “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.” Since John is so emphatic in stressing that people in God’s family do not sin habitually, we who claim to be in God’s family might well examine our behavior. Do we reflect the traits of the devil whose mission is to steal, kill, and destroy, or do we reflect the traits of our Heavenly Father. Jesus said we as God’s children should aim to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
