Welcome to the Family of God: What It Means to Be His Child
If you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have been born again into the family of God. So if no one has said it yet, welcome to the family! I have always found it interesting that God decided to use the term “family” to describe one aspect of who we are in Him. After all, He is God. He could have asked us to be servants or even slaves. But instead, He refers to us as His own children. I don’t know about you, but I am so forever grateful to be a child of the Creator of the universe!
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God calls you family…
We often hear the word “adoption” when discussing our salvation into the family of God. But the New Testament describes our sonship in a way that goes far beyond your typical modern adoption. Being “born again” allows us to actually be born into the family of God. We are children by birth through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It would have been more than enough to save us from death. It would have been more than enough to allow us to be a part of His Kingdom. But God wanted more… He longed for us to be a part of His family. And when He refers to us as His family, He speaks of us as sons and daughters. And not only as sons and daughters but as co-heirs with Jesus. This is how God views us as His beloved children.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. – Romans 8:14-16
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. – Galatians 4:6-7
God is a good and loving Father…
Some of us grew up knowing what it was like to have an amazing dad. Others of us, unfortunately, did not. In our modern American culture, good fathers are sometimes hard to find. But what defines a good dad? If I were to have you imagine the best dad humanly possible, what would he be like?
I assure you that God is far better than any human father could ever strive to become. He loves us deeply… enough to die for us in fact. He loves to bless us in big ways and in little ways each and every day. When we pray and talk to Him, He listens and gives us His full attention. We can share anything with Him… our hurts, fears, frustrations… He wants to hear it all. And when we need discipline in our lives, He does so in a way that builds us up rather than tears us down.
Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. – Psalm 103:13
When you are born into the family of God, you become a son or daughter of the Creator of the universe.
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*Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
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