Have we learned what it means to become sons of God as mentioned in our reading? Or have we perhaps fallen for false teachings about life in Heaven, false understandings that originate in a longing to continue in our passions and sins, simply without end or without pain?
It is unfortunate that we have many in the Church, including clerics, that have developed a secular view of Christianity. They are driven by comforts and avoidance of suffering in their decisions and way of life, even at the cost of transgressing God's commands.
Sadly many heterodox do not believe that as Christians we have commandments any longer, and some even go as far as to say that it is acceptable for us to sin as long as we continue to have "faith" that we will one day be freed from our sins, not repenting for such sins. These protestant ideas influence members of the Orthodox Church.
Things have not changed very much since the times of the early Church in the first century. St. John was writing to the Churches to stand guard against heresies that were influencing the faithful with ideas from Gnostics that promoted the freedom to continue in sin even after becoming members of the Church, the Body of Christ.
He had to make it very clear that it is by our will and works aided by God's grace that we maintain our status as sons of God. It is not as simple as being baptized that makes one a child of God. We could unknowingly revert back to being sons of the devil if we continue to sin.
We must really contemplate this passage from St. John's epistle and ask what does it mean to be unknown by the world. Abba Isaiah of Scetis explains that this world is where sin is trained, unnatural acts are carried out, the will of the flesh is accomplished, the body, and not the soul, is cared for, and where worldly men think they will remain to boast in all of this.
We cannot live this way as Christians, and those that do, need to revaluate their promises made at their baptisms to renounce the devil and his ways.
St. Maximus explains why it is that Christians continue to sin even after being baptized. He says, "What is lacking, therefore, in each of us who is still able to sin, is the unequivocal desire to surrender our whole selves, in the disposition of our will, to the Spirit."
Part of the reason that we cannot let go of the pleasures of the world is that we have been deceived by the devil into thinking that these pleasures cannot be compared with anything that living a pious Christian life can offer. We fail to see both the joy that God offers to those that become children of God, here and in Heaven, and also fail to see the death-dealing pain that comes with the transient pleasures of this world.
God has not fully revealed what heavenly life will be like because, in His Providence, He knows that it is for our own benefit that we develop a greater longing and trust in Him who desires only our eternal salvation and well-being. Yet we are able to understand aspects of heavenly life by what God has revealed to us, and we are wise to often contemplate these things.
We can read about our Lord after His resurrection and marvel at His ability to appear wherever He needed to and ascend bodily into the Heavens. We long to be united with the Holy Trinity and one another in ways that we cannot now comprehend. St. John tells us that we will be like Christ and will be given clear vision of God, communion as gods in God.
It takes great courage however to resist the devil's wiles especially if we have been enslaved to them for a long period of time. But we must be aware of our eternal state, whether we will be in pain now for a short while, or for all eternity.
We do not have to do this alone, we actually are not capable of doing so. We have the Creator of all things as our aid. He longs to deify us and enable us to do His works. Abba Isaiah tells us how to respond to sin saying, "Do not be silent! Our enemy pursues us at all times, seeking to capture our souls, but our Lord Jesus is with us, rebuking him through His holy words, if we observe them, for how can one make an obstacle to hinder the enemy except with the words which God has said against him? They oppose and crush him without anyone's knowledge."
As the Church goes through this time of trial where Bishops are demanding that Churches be closed and that we must bow down to cultural norms that blaspheme or loving Lord Jesus Christ, we need to boldly speak out and do what we can to not allow the comfort of fitting into the world beguile us into thinking that everything is okay.
We know that to remain children of God, we must follow the commandments of God and partake of the Holy Mysteries given to the Church for our spiritual nourishment, without which we will perish. If the world persecutes or even kills us, we should be comforted because we would only be following in our Lord's footsteps.
At our death, we will be inspected by the wicked demons who will look for signs of us being children of the devil. May we be found worthy to declare boldly to them, "The world knoweth me not, because it knew Christ not."
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