Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doth justice is just, even as he is just. He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin: for his seed abideth in him. And he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just is not of God, or he that loveth not his brother. — 1 John 3:7–10
We can and do sin — are we therefore children of the devil? Jesus said to the Jews who said, We be Abraham’s seed, and We have one father, even God: Ye are of your father the devil. (John 8:33, 41, 44). Yet the younger son did not wait to obtain his inheritence, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living (Luke 15:13), remained a son in his father’s eyes, even if in his own eyes he was no more worthy.
Let us not deceive ourselves. When we sin we are of the devil, not of God, in far country, not of the Kingdom of God. But if we return, God will receive us as his children, be it seventy times seven times and more. So should we love our children and our brothers and sisters.
