John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

As often as this verse is quoted, I don’t think the implications of it are really grasped by many people at all. There are various songs that celebrate it, like “A Child of the King,” but again, to most people they seem just to be pretty songs. Paul spent a good bit of time trying to get this truth through to his readers, perhaps most notably in Galatians 4:1-7. However, this truth is so huge, carrying so many implications, that we spend a lifetime growing in our appreciation of it. That reality, that Paul called “adoption” in Romans 8:23, means that we are instantly given standing in the universe above all other classes of creation. The more you think about that, the more awesome it becomes. However, we have to remember what God allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to go through so that we won’t get any wrong ideas. Jesus wasn’t a created being, adopted as a child by grace through faith, (Ephesians 2:8-9) but was and is the eternal Son, who existed before anything was created, as this chapter proclaims. Even so, He suffered horribly and died, though He rose again. Being a child of God doesn’t preclude suffering at all – in fact, Jesus promised we would suffer (John 16:33) – but it assures us that in the end it will all be more than worth it. (2 Corinthians 4:17) It means that we can come boldly to our Father and express our hearts without hesitation. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

I didn’t begin to understand what it was to be a child until I became a parent, with a child of my own. Self-awareness is often like that: we have to be in a different context to understand the first one. As I acquire more and more spiritual children I understand better and better what it means that I am God’s child, and it is glorious indeed. I am to seek to help others understand what it means as well, as my own understanding is increased. As a child, I am to be humbly obedient to my Father in all things, and that’s one of several areas in which I have plenty of room for growth. I am to express to others the grace and patience that have been poured out on me. I am to seek further insight and revelation as to just what it means to be a child of God, and I am to rejoice that He has been so incredibly gracious to me.

Father, I address You as Father so frequently, yet I understand only a fraction of what that means. I do ask for more insight, but I particularly ask that You enable me to live out what You have already revealed to me, so that I may be a child who gives You joy by my obedience and love. Thank You. Praise God!