And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame.
Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.
See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who 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 a s He is pure. (1 John 2, vv. 28-29, 1 John 3: vv. 1-3, NLT)