I’m continuing the series on: How God Sees Us, which commenced here.
We are children of God and being God’s child is a right given to us by God. It’s not something we earn or inherit.
“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.” (John 1:12-13).
The decision to be born physically was not ours. To some extent our parents decide when and where, we would be born. Our biological parents are always our parents, even if we were adopted. Our parents will always have a blood relationship with us.
When and where we are born spiritually, is our choice. I often say I became a Christian at a youth group camp, which isn’t strictly correct. At the camp I made the decision to become a Christian. But it wasn’t until the Sunday night, after I came home, in the privacy of my own bedroom that I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour. When and where I was born spiritually was my choice.
It’s a decision no one can make for us. And once we are born into God’s family. We are redeemed by the blood of Christ and we have a blood relationship with God. As we have seen God will never leave us or forsake us. However, we can walk away from God. We can disobey and choose to do our own thing, but God will not give up on us.
Jesus showed us this very clearly in the story of the Prodigal Son. The son never stopped being a son not even when wasted his wealth on wild living or when found himself in a pig pen. When the son came to his senses, his Father welcomed him home with open arms.
When we disobey God and do our own thing, we upset our fellowship with God, but we don’t being a child of God. It’s important we make this distinction because if we think our relationship with God is based on our obedience, we are denying God’s grace. We would be saying Jesus’ death on the Cross wasn’t enough to save me from my sins, that God needs me to be living righteously, as well. “We are not saved by how we behave, we are saved by how we believe.” (Neil Anderson)
God wants us to not only believe that we are his child, he wants us to have the assurance of being his child. He wants us to know that we know that we know we are his child. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:14-16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. God’s Spirit within us confirms to us that we are God’s children. And if you have any doubts about that then ask God to confirm it to you.
When I became a Christian, I was told if I had any doubts about God, I should tell him. About six weeks later I was having serious doubts. Suddenly the gospel seems unbelievable, why would God be interested in me, why would God send a Saviour. It all seemed too incredible to be true. So I told God I was struggling to believe that he was really there.
After I prayed, I didn’t see any flashing signs or hear any bells ringing but over the next few days there was a quiet assurance in my spirit, that God was real. He wasn’t a figment of my imagination. Since that time I’ve never really doubted God’s existence. So I encourage you to do the same, if you have doubts about being his child, simply tell God and then wait and see how he confirms his presence to you.
When we see ourselves as God’s child, we will start behaving like his child. We have to know we are his child, before we will act like his child. Our beliefs determine our behaviour. Once we get our beliefs are in line with God’s truth, our actions will follow.
The devil may say to us, “What right do you have to call yourself a child of God? Just look at your behaviour?” We can respond by saying, “God gave me the right. It’s not based on my behaviour, but rather on my belief in God’s Word.”
