“I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.” We sing this 2015 song by Bethel Music and countless other songs just like it in our churches every Sunday morning as a way to celebrate our position in the family of God. Pastors and teachers present sermons and lessons about our adoption into God’s family, but do we truly understand that that position means for us?
While everyone’s family situation isn’t the same, consider your position within your own family. Even if you weren’t raised in a traditional two parent household, you still had a position within some sort of family-like structure. Whether you were raised by grandparents, aunts and uncles, in a single-parent household, you had a position within a family. What did that position look like for you? More importantly, what benefits came with your position?
In the book of John, the beloved disciple makes a powerful statement about our inclusion in God’s family and uses an interesting term to discuss one of the benefits that comes with our position:
John 1:12 (TPT)
But those who embraced him and took hold of his name were given authority to become the children of God! He was not born by the joining of human parents or from natural means, or by a man’s desire, but he was born of God.
First all, look at how we get into the family of God. “Those who embraced him and took hold of his name” creates a beautiful picture of adoption. If you were adopted by the people who raised you, this verse may feel even more realistic than it does for others. But in this verse, John paints a picture of God walking into a vast sea of orphaned souls and declaring, “If you will come to Me, you will be a part of My family.” God did not bring us to Himself because of our great works or our own righteousness. Instead, the Bible says that all we have to do is “embrace Him” and “take hold of His name.” Those phrases literally mean that all we have to do is accept our adoption into God’s family.
However, the interesting term that John used is the word “authority.” The disciple who was closer to Jesus during His earthly life than any of the others said that we were given the “authority” (or power) to be called the children of God. In the original language of the Bible, the term “authority” literally means that we were given access to all of the benefits associated with being one of God’s children.
In Biblical times, the children of the king were granted the authority to use his name. When one of the king’s children would tell a member of the palace staff what to do, the staff member didn’t question things. Instead, he or she acted because the king’s child had the full authority of the king behind him or her. As children of the King of Kings, we are granted some of the same type of benefits! Understanding the benefits of being a child of the King is an important part of understanding what John meant when he said that we had the authority to become the children of God.
God’s Love
The Bible contains hundreds of verses that point to God’s love for all of humanity. The most quoted verse in the Bible (John 3:16) points to the fact that God loves everyone, whether that love is returned or not. However, once we become God’s children, we not only embrace that love, but we also return it. This acceptance of God’s love allows us to accept a love that is never broken.
Romans 8:38-39
So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us-no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!
As sad as it is to acknowledge, there are parents who have limitations on their love for their children. Perhaps you’ve even been on the receiving end of such limited love. While there is no way to erase the pain that comes along with such conditional love, we can rest in the fact that our Father in Heaven has a love for His children that cannot be shaken or weakened by any force in the natural or the spiritual!
God’s Provision
A good father takes care of his children to the best of his abilities. This care goes beyond meeting their physical needs of food, water and shelter. A good father makes sure that his children also understand that they are loved, cared for and treasured. God’s Word continuously paints the picture of God as a great, giving, caring Father for everyone who would accept their position in His divine family.
Matthew 7:9-11 (TPT)
Do you know of any parent who would give his hungry child, who asked for food, a plate of rocks instead? Or when asked for a piece of fish, what parent would offer his child a snake instead? If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?
This excerpt from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount discusses God’s willingness to meet the needs of His children. He compares God’s love as a Father to the love that earthly parents have for their children. If you have children, would you hand them a rock if they told you they were hungry? Of course not! However, that doesn’t make you a perfect parent. That’s why Jesus said, “as imperfect as you are.” If you are determined to give your children what they need, how much more ready is God to give you everything that you need?
God’s Inheritance
When we think of the term “inheritance,” we automatically think about the death of someone who had assets that he or she wanted to leave to us. Perhaps you’ve been named in a will in the past and understand the process of having money, property or other assets left to you. Being an heir to God may seem like a foreign concept because God is eternal. God is not going to die in order to leave us anything. Instead, we gained a right to our Godly inheritance because of the death of His Only Son.
Romans 8:17 (TPT)
And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs to God himself. And since we are jointed to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.
Christ’s sufferings, His death, burial and resurrection allow us to be included in God’s great heirship plan. If we accept the price that was paid for our eternal salvation, we become an heir to God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. Our inheritance is not on this earth, but instead, it allows us to enjoy the fullness of the glory of Heaven that God has prepared for His children.
Heirship requires death. However, that death has already taken place and was swallowed up in Christ’s glorious resurrection. Because of that fact, we can accept our Godly inheritance that includes Heaven and all of the splendors that come with it.
Our authority, or rights as God’s children allow us to enjoy an unconditional, forgiving love, supernatural provision and an inheritance that far outweighs anything that this world has ever seen. The best part is that there is nothing we have to do in order to gain that inheritance. We simply have to embrace Him and take hold of His name.
A Closing Prayer:
God, thank you for adopting me into Your heavenly family. Thank you for the benefits that come with my position as Your child. Help me to rest in the promise and the power that comes with my position in Your family. In Christ’s name, Amen!