Child of God

Parents love their children no matter what. At least, that’s how we think it should be. Yet some parents don’t love their children unconditionally and, instead, families can be places of immense hurt and pain.

God’s love for his family is different. Unlike children of imperfect earthly families, when we are adopted into God’s family by putting our trust in Jesus, we are truly loved by God no matter what. In fact, Romans 5:8 tells us that even before we were adopted into his family, God loved us by sending Jesus to take the punishment our sin deserves. God stopped at nothing so that we could be his children!

Even with that great confidence, we can still doubt our position in his family. When we do this, we are forgetting that Scripture tells us that when we are part of God’s family, there is nothing that can separate us from his love.

Nothing can take away our status as a child of God when we have accepted what Jesus has done for us. God doesn’t just tolerate us; instead, he loves us so much that he died for us to bring us eternal life with him. No matter how we might feel, God’s love for us will never change.

Questions: 

1. Does anything make you doubt your position as a child of God? What did you learn from the passage today that can give you confidence in God’s love for you? 
2. How should children respond to their parents? Take a look at 1 Peter 1:14–16. And how do you think parents should treat their children? Check out Ephesians 6:4. 
3. Becoming a child of God goes hand-in-hand with recognising your sin, turning away from it, and following Jesus. Is there someone in your life you could pray for to come to know Jesus too?

Prayer:

Gracious Father, you have adopted me into your family and rescued me from my sin. Help me to remember that I am your child and have confidence in what Jesus has done for me. Set me free from my fear by your Spirit that I might know that you truly and deeply love me. Amen.