Are you a child of God? Do you know what it means to be called a "Child of God?" It means that you are a son or daughter of God Almighty, adopted through Jesus Christ, His Son. Was you surprised when you gave yourself to Christ? God knew who would be His and who would not. The Bible tells us, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified" (Romans 8:28-30).
There was a process as we all looks for ways of knowing who we are. Identity is the answer to the question - "Who are you?" A common way to think about our identity is to think of what we identify with. My identity changed depending on what role I played in life as an Underwriter, Human Resource Manager, Fashionista, Interior Designer, you get the point. Oh by the way, Fashionista is the name I gave myself. In some ways these roles were a part of who I was and am, but they are not the essence of who I am. These aspects can serve as distinguishing me, but not as defining me nor you too. They can help us find some social fit, but it is not our ultimate nature or worth.
You may be a parent, school teacher, spouse, sibling, volunteer, stay home mother or dad. These may serve as a role you plan, but they are not who you really are. Who you are is not defined by your age, your social status, or your stage in life. No, it is all about what you are ultimately rooted in that is durable and that can never change. We as Christians are rooted in God through Jesus Christ. God is perfectly loving, perfectly kind, and perfectly wise. God always knows what is best for us. God knows everything about our lives and there is nothing that is hidden from him, our past, present, or future. So this perfect, all-powerful, all knowing, all-loving sovereign God is our heavenly Father. God our Father has a love for us that will never be experienced while we are on earth. God offers us a never giving-up, unbreakable love that is always and forever love.
1 John 3:1 tells us, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" This is what we are, "children of God." It is not that we try to be, but we ARE children of God through Jesus Christ. John 1:12-13 says, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." Your real identity is BIRTHED, a birth that comes from God. Jesus came to reconcile and restore human life and that is the central identity of being a child of God and this is rooted in God as our Father. Jesus came into this lost sinful world to restore our true identity. What identity is that? The identity out of which he lived when he came into this world - the Light, the Word, our Redeemer.
There is nothing in this world that could change who Jesus was. While on earth Jesus was a carpenter, healer, teacher, priest, and Savior. Jesus' identity was not just a man nor just a teacher, but He was so much more than that. The Bible says, Jesus was unique in both His person and His purpose. He was both God's Son and God Himself. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." He was loved by the Father who declared, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). He was rejected and yet popular, but it didn't change His identity. He was loved and yet hated, and it still didn't change His identity nor could it.
Our identity in Christ should be number one, because we have been adopted into God's family. We didn't choose God, He chose us. The Bible says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit -fruit that will last" (John 15:16). The only way we can come to God is if he calls us. When we speak of the children of God, we speak of high things of God, the heart of God. How wonderful is the love of God that those who believe in Jesus are called Children of God.
Children of God belongs to Him by creation and by redemption. Jesus paid the price for us, He redeemed us, as we would redeem a coupon. He owns us and we are not our own to do as we please, but we belong to Him and for Him to do with us as He chooses. Our responsibility is to yield ourselves to Jesus. We must be an example of God's awesome love, His life changing power, and love that only a child of God can know and know through faith in Jesus. And yet the child of God should be seen and recognized by the characteristics of their lives.
As a Child of God you should live a righteous life. Are you choosing to live righteously or are you still allowing the flesh to take control. John tells us, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world" (1 John 2:15-16).
The Child of God should keep the commandments of Christ. The Bible tells us, "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:3-4). But how can we possibly keep all the God's commandments? The answer is that we are fallible human beings and we can't possibly keep all of them but we can try. Only by allowing Christ to live His life through us then we can continue to love Him and follow Him. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit began to dwell inside of us and He will empower us to do God's will. God also promised us that He will give us grace to obey His will as we keep, continue to remember, and apply the commands of Jesus in our lives.
As a Child of God you must have a love for others. Do we have to have love for others? Yes. Remember the Lord said that the most important commandment is, "Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). The second commandment is this, " Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). 1 John 5:3 says, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome." We are to love those who love us and love those who hate us. This is the Jesus way and His way is to love all people, including those who treat you badly.
A Child of God will overcome the world. Jesus overcame the world and He defeated death, now through Him we have also became an overcomer. John wrote in 1 John 5:4, "For everyone born of God overcomes the world." Jesus has defeated the powers of darkness and has defeated the powers of this world. As a child of God, we are not to be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. We as Christians are not left weak and defenseless in our spiritual battles. On the contrary, those battles have already been won, by Christ Jesus. But God also wants us to remember, "No weapon form against me shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn" (Isaiah 54:17).
Faith is needed to become a child of God. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our faith is our victory and the faith of every child of God is the victory that overcomes. Every child of God is an overcomer and is victorious because we have eternal life in Christ. Faith gives us victory through Jesus. How strong is your faith? A true child of God grows daily in their faith and other people can see the difference. Can others see Jesus in you? Please strive to reveal to others that you have the marks of a Child of God.
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