To Live is Christ — part of His family

Yesterday we sang a chorus that included the phrase, “all of God’s children . . .” This morning that line came to mind as I read this verse,

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (John 1:12)

After doing a brief search using an electronic Bible, I’ve concluded that the terms children of God and sons of God are almost all in the New Testament. They are about the unique event or adoption (also a New Testament term) that happens when people believe in Jesus Christ. 

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)

I’ve heard people say that we belong to God first by creation, and second by the new birth, yet there is a difference between something that I create and something that is born through me. My creations may show the marks of my imagination and personality, but my children bear my genetic code. They are my offspring and mine in a unique sense.

Children of God is a special right or privilege that happens to those who believe in Jesus and receive Him. The idea of receiving Christ is not just a term invented by the evangelical church. John 1:12 shows that it is biblical. Something happens to people whose faith for eternal life is placed in Jesus, but we do not do it. He comes into our lives by His Spirit and makes us different from what we were before. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This is called the new birth, or being born again. It involves being in Christ, which is the same has Christ being in me. Because of His indwelling presence, I am reborn, given spiritual life, made a new creature. I am different from what I was.

Is this like a split personality? I think it is, at least in one way. The new life of Christ in me makes itself know when I “walk in the Spirit” and when I obey the Lord. The old life or the flesh makes itself known when I disobey God and do my own thing. The Bible says that old nature is dead (separated from God) and I’m to consider it dead, nevertheless it still flops around like a decapitated chicken that refuses to be still.

One of the neatest things about being a child of God is the bond that I have with others who have been born into His family. While that bond can be messed up by the flesh, we still have the commonality of Christ living in us. Because of Him, there is a unity of Spirit, an instant kinship.

I like being in God’s family. Yes, we sometimes do not agree and have spats, or we fail to understand each other. However, the bond is never broken and the Lord makes our hearts care for one another in ways that bless us and draw us together.

To live is Christ means a strong family life, often with people of other nationalities, skin color, opinions, and lifestyles. We are diverse with great contrasts, but because of Jesus, we are also united and love one another.