Ephesians 1:3-6; Galatians 4:3-7
We're told in both Ephesians 1 and Galatians 4 that we are children of God, that God chose us and adopted us, and that we are sons and heirs of God. Talk of being a child of God or being part of the family of God is common in Christian circles. But how often do we really take time to jump in and consider what a privilege being a child of God is and what that really means--not only to us but to God? For me, the answer has to be not nearly enough.
So, let's do it. Take some time today to really ponder being a child of God. What does that mean to you? And, that being the case, what should your relationship with God look like? And finally, what do these two passages show you about how much God values and loves you? Tami W.
My earthly father took off ....left us when I was two years old. I never had a earthly father but God adopted me into His family. I have a father in heaven who cares for me. Praise the Lord I have a Father in heaven and many brothers and sisters. I am truly blessed!
It is very humbling to grasp all that God did for us,by sending his Son to the cross so that we may be his heir.And to think that he is always their for us is just an amazing showing of love and i just praise the Lord for who he is.
My interpretation in my heart is: It is like how we are parents and love our children unconditionally. How we long to have a real good real good relationship with them. That is the same way that God feels, he created us and longs for us to have a personal and close relationship with him and to know that as our Father, he is and will be always there when we need Him.
Praise God. Being sons of God, Christ followers no longer must try to be holy but instead be the holiness of Christ on the earth. No one is perfect this side of heaven nor can they attain perfection now yet we as believers can emulate Christ. We can "put on Christ," "die to self," and allow our selves to decrease as Christ in us increases through intimate fellowship in the word, fellowship in the Church, and taking part in the sacraments. I suppose that we can continue to strive to apprehend the high calling of Christ through the faithfulness that God bestows daily. He meets us where we are, cleans us up in confession, and sends us out as disciples making disciples.
Being a child of God is more than I can completely grasp. God , being a loving Father and omnipresent, will always be there when I need him. He can (and has) rescued me from problems and seen me through troubles in a way that even the richest, most loving father in the world could not do. Being His son, I will be obedient to his direction and rest in his grace. I will rejoice in His love of me and all people. I look up to Him as an authoritarian deity realizing that He has my best interests in heart even though I might not understand or agree with his wisdom.
Being a child of God has become a rich picture to me.
I come from the ultimate blended family, so to speak. Back in the late 70s/early 80s, my parents took in two young children, a boy and a girl, their niece and nephew by birth, who were terribly neglected. This was shortly before they found out they'd be having me. So, they went from a family of 2 to a family of 5 relatively quickly.
The adoption wasn't official until years later, when I was a child. But, I never knew them as anything other than my brother or sister.
When my mother and sister were killed in a car accident in 1989, God graciously gave my father a new wife (that's a story of God's grace in itself). They've since had two children, a boy and a girl, and my older brother, has married and had a child.
Do you see what's missing in that description? In the world's opinion, I have a step-mother, two step-siblings, two half-siblings, and a sister-in-law. But, there are no "steps," "halves," or "in-laws" in our family's vocabulary. The woman my father married is my mother, end of story. She's loved me, raised me, and been there for me longer than my birth mother was able to be, after all. It doesn't make one any less my mother to call the other my mother.
The five others I mentioned, one now deceased, are my brothers and sisters, no prefixes or suffixes attached. We all feel that way, and the youngest two never even had the privilege of meeting the deceased sibling. The world says that "blood is thicker than water," and it's true. But, real love is thicker than blood.
That's the kind of love God shows us in adopting us into his family. It works the same way as in my family. In the Roman Empire, when the NT was written, an adopted child had the full rights and privileges of a natural-born child, without strings attached. We'll never be God's children the same way that Jesus is God's son, just like my siblings and I became our parents' children different ways. But, we share an equal privilege as being God's children--"heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ."
God valued us enough to desire, from the very beginning, that we would be His children, with all the rights and privileges that come with that--and, when slavery to sin entered the picture and kept us from that possibility, He sent His son to break down the barriers and restore the road to relationship.
As for how that should look in terms of my relationship with him, the line from the hymn comes to mind: "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."
i am just so very happy that Jesus made this huge sacrifice for me to become an heir to the kingdom of God and just want to put my whole heart, body and soul into thanking and serving him.like the bible says for I am bought with a price so I should glorify in my spirit and my body which are his.
Being a child of God to me means having an intimate relationship with my Father. It means enjoying such a relationship and being apart of His royalty. We can enjoy the priviledges of being an heir to God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. What a priviledge it is. I wish this subject was taugh more often. Many children of God (especially new believers) don't know what benefits God has given us, the greatest is knowing Him personally.
The fact that God, the Creator, the Alpha and the Omega allows me/us to sup with Him and WANTS us to become one with Him says it all.
My only child was adopted from an orphanage when he was 6. I lived alone for a long time until God placed this child at my feet and asked me to give him a home. I knew parents love their children, but I never realized the depth of that love until my son came to me. In some ways the love of an adopted child is different than the love of a parent for a biological child, because we know that he would have been forever alone, abandoned and afraid without the family he now has. It helps me to think about this as I read these passages. It is hard for me to comprehend God's love for me, especially when I don't always sense it due to the barriers created by my own sin and disobedience. But, when I reverse my perspective, and think of the possibilty that God feels for me in some intense, committed ways as I feel for my child, then I am better able to thank him for all he has done for me.
Hard to imagine that God has made me holy and blameless in Christ Jesus as I live today. My heart desire is to know my God who has chosen me before the foundation of the earth was built. Perhaps I need to look for Him or understand Him not relying on my own effort but led by the Jesus in the Bible and the Holy Spirit. How my heavenly Father is like? I will claim the promise that as I draw near to Him, He will draw near to me.