Who's Child Are You?

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. 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 Christian brothers and sisters, 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. (1 John 3:10-19 NLT)

Ultimately, this entire discussion about clearing our consciences is a discussion about identification.  With whom do you identify yourself...God or the devil?  Who is your mentor?  Whose pattern do you follow?  Who do you want to be like when you grow up?  Who would you identify as your "father"?

All too often we approach our spirituality as though we get to define what is good or right.  We lose sight of the fact that there is only one who gets to define what is right and wrong.  There are models we can follow for each camp (right or wrong).  All we get to do is decide which model we will follow.

So...which one will you follow?  Who's student are you?  Who's child are you?