Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when He is manifested, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
1 John 3:2, LSB
Why did the world not recognize Christ when He was with us. The faithful believed in the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the Chosen One at the time, but many of the most religious are the ones who rejected Him. The issue wasn’t their lack of knowing about God but the certainty that they had in their own holiness. We can find certainty in our status as being children of God not because of anything we did but because of our belief that Christ has chosen and called us. This creates a level of uncertainty, which is repeated when Jesus says to His disciples, “Are you not going also?” and they respond, “But to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Our certainty is found in Him, in the Word. This is why His Word is so valuable. When we cling to it and find our only hope within it, all other things will matter less. If the calling of our Lord calls us in another direction, then our hearts are meant to be prepared to follow, as He is the only thing to which our hearts should cling. In Him is where our hope lies.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.