NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

REFLECTION

Becoming children of God is the theme for our reflection. A child is a son or daughter of any age. We must first understand that all human beings are children of God because we have been created by Him except we become wayward, hence cutting ties with the Lord just as Adam and Eve disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden. Nonetheless, God is a loving Father and does not abandon His children to perish in their waywardness or sin. John enlightens us on how we can become children of God after we have been lost through sin.

Dear friend in the Lord, we become the children of God not through our own effort but through the love of God which He demonstrated to us through Christ Jesus. “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. ² 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. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3). Truly, we have become children of God because “…God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17). Again, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Dear friend, the only way we can become children of God is to repent and be saved through our Lord Jesus Christ. Without repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is impossible to appreciate His love and become His child. It is for this reason, John goes ahead to admonish us that “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” (1 John 3:9-10) In other words, after becoming children of God through regeneration through Christ, we must maintain our status as children of God by doing what is right before God including loving our neighbours(everyone).

Doing what is right and loving others as children of God means doing the will of God at all times. We are identified as children of God because we do His will. Jesus during His challenging moment said “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42). At the end, only those who have become His children by purposefully doing His will shall be saved. Jesus reminds us that “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Dear friend, merely being baptised into a church or merely attending church services does not guarantee us the status of becoming the children of God. In addition, we must have a saving knowledge and relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and continually follow His perfect example in fulfilling the will of God all the days of our lives. We have no choice but to do what is right according to His Word and revelation if we desire to please Him. Beloved in the Lord, let us take a moment to reflect on our lives and our relationship with God by asking ourselves these few but very important questions. Do I believe I am a child of God? Have I experienced His love through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ? Do I have a personal relationship with God and do I continually do His will daily through the help of the Holy Spirit? Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit come and take control of our lives, we need You to strengthen us to do the will of God always and to maintain our relationship with Him as His beloved children even as we await the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.