Romans: We are Children of God
When I was a child, I spent a considerable time daydreaming. One of the things that I would daydream about was the prospect of having been born into another family. I know, there is probably something that is terribly wrong with that. I grew up in a great family. I loved my parents, my grandparents, and my brother and sisters. I truly would not have wanted to be born into any other family or any other place than the family and the farm which God selected for me.
Still, there was always a fascination about what it would be like to grow up in a different home, with different siblings. A family that lived about five miles north of our farm had thirteen children. I would daydream about God having placed me in that family and wondering what that would be like. Would I get lost in the sheer number of kids? Would I be a better athlete or better able to accomplish something if I had been born into that family?
The family that you are born into has a lot to do with how successful you are in life. What is interesting is a statement made by the Apostle John in John 1. John 1:9-13 — ” The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive 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.” NIV
John makes the astonishing statement that those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior can call themselves children of God! As in any family, God reserves special gifts and blessings for those who are his children. As God’s children, we no longer live in fear of God’s punishment. As children of God, we have an intimacy with God that permits us to go to him with any need we have. As children of God, we are heirs of the same blessings that he is pouring out on his son Jesus! It is beyond anything that we can ask for or imagine!
-Pastor Ken