Children of God

What does it mean to be a child of God? We often refer to God as our Father, but I wonder if we really understand the full implications of that statement.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Romans 8:14 (NIV)

Our status has changed in terms of our allegiances and our identities. We are not loyal to this world or any group within it. We don’t adhere to the same values as the lost ones that surround us. More importantly, we are being transformed by Jesus into the same substance he is, purifying ourselves, and making ready for his return.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

1 John 3:1-3

This was according to God’s plan. Like a child born to a family of limited means, we were destined for a life of suffering but God the Father, our adoptive parent, stepped in and made a plan before we were born to make us one of His own. That is the predestination we can count on; before we even knew we needed to be saved, God had set up a plan to include us in salvation.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Ephesians 1:4-6

Since that is the case, we behave not merely as entitled heirs but grateful children, recipients of Grace, knowing that our salvation could not come about on our own, but was set up for our benefit by a loving Father.

Ethan Kirl