Daily Discipleship - Day 303: What Kind of Love the Father Has

May 3, 2026

Daily Discipleship • Day 303 • Saturday, February 27, 2027

What Kind of Love the Father Has

1 John 3:1–2

Pleasant Springs Church • ps-church.com

Scripture
1 John 3:1–2 (Greek NT / ESV) ἴδετε ποταπὴν ἀγάπην δέδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ πατήρ, ἵνα τέκνα θεοῦ κληθῶμεν, καὶ ἐσμέν See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Author & Audience

William MacDonald — beloved Bible teacher and author of Believer's Bible Commentary, whose devotional writing on 1 John has brought generations of readers face to face with the lavishness of God’s love.

Word Study

ποταπήν

potapēn · Greek NT

“what kind of / what manner of”

potapos is an exclamatory word of astonishment—'from what country or of what sort?' It expresses bewildered wonder at the quality and category of something. John does not merely say 'what great love'—he marvels that such love is possible at all.

Reflection

From the writers we read together

William MacDonald

Author of Believer's Bible Commentary; 1917–2007

“The marvel is not that we are loved, but that such love exists.” — Believer's Bible Commentary, 1 John 3

John calls his readers to stop and look—‘See what kind of love.’ This is not casual glancing; it is deliberate, sustained wonder. The love in view is so unusual, so foreign to human categories, that the world cannot recognize those who bear it, because the world did not recognize its Source.

MacDonald marvels that the identity ‘children of God’ is not a future aspiration but a present reality: ‘and so we are.’ What we will yet become is still unfolding, but who we are is already settled. Sit with that today. You are not merely forgiven—you are family.

Continue your study: God’s Family Study — Explore what it means to be part of God’s family in our Romans 16 study on community and belonging.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, King of the Universe, Father, let me stop today and truly see the kind of love You have given. I am Your child—now. Help me live from that identity, not toward it. Amen.

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