As a Child of God you and I have privileges, responsibilities, and consequences. Vol.1, Ch. 45

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." 1 John 3:1

Are you a child of God?

I remember the first time that anyone ever asked me that question. I was about thirty years old and had never really thought about who I was as a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh sure, I had believed in him since I was a child. I had said yes to the Jesus that I knew at seven. And I had even said He could have all of me at the age of about twenty-eight. But no one had ever brought up the question: Do you really know who you are as a child of God?

It turned me on my ear. I was a child of God? I really was a child of God. And because I was a child of God I had both privileges and responsibilities. And I also had some consequences that wouldn't be the most exciting consequences in life, but would be the kind of consequences that would be walked through with Jesus by my side.

A few privileges I've learned to receive over time.

• Jesus is with me all the time.
• Redemption from sin and shame is available to me all the time - it has been done on the cross and I need not work for acceptance from God. He already has received me.
• I have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me.
• The great God who IS protects me and He also instructs His angels to look out for me.
• I get to go Boldly to the throne of God. Do you get that? I go directly to God without fear. So it never matters what is bothering me I can go and talk it all out. No hiding. He will never turn me away. I never have to hide in shame, fear or confusion. As a child of God you can too!
  
• I ask for anything and He is gracious enough to give me an answer. The answer could be one of three things:
  • Yes, I would be happy to give that to you.
  • No it is better for you if you don't get that, you couldn't handle it.
  • WAIT, I'll give that to you later. (Which for me is the hardest, but often the most rewarding answer He could give me.)
• Since I am the child of the King, that makes me a princess. That means that some things are just not worthy of who I am as His child. So don't do them. (I think of it like this: If I am a child of the King, that makes me a princess, so I need to act like it. (Not the snooty kind, but the serve your country/the people kind.)
• Who am I? I am a child of God. When we know that and it is the most important identity we begin with, we build on that and move into making much better choices in life.

When we are unaware of our identity in Christ we make decisions with our emotions or our common sense being our guide. Our emotions fluctuate and our common sense can only be used from our own perspective.

But when we are aware of our identity as children of God we have a few responsibilities to take into consideration.

• How we treat ourselves. We must love ourselves as Christ has loved us. That means that we must learn how to feed into our bodies, souls, and minds only the good stuff. These will produce positive outflow.
• How we treat others. We are called to love everyone. That doesn't mean that we let others take advantage of us, nor does it mean that we are always hanging out with anybody and everybody. No, what this means is that we build into others a sense of encouragement, and support for their own well being. We look into the lives of others and see the good in them. And those we are up close and personal to, we protect as best we can.
• How we respond to Christ and the Church. We don't ignore Christ. We are actively involved with building relationship with Him. We make space and margin to include time to get to know Him specifically through His Word, through nature, and through service.
• We also don't ignore the Church. (the body of Christ.) We take a little church around with us everyday because he says that we are His church. But there are churches throughout our country that are being left because the Children of God have forgotten that it is their responsibility to continue building the Church. Church is not a building we go to in where we meet with others to get something for ourselves. It is a place we go to worship and praise God in community. We go to do something to prove our commitment to Him. And it is a very important endeavor.

When we are aware of consequences that come because we are Children of God we can be a bit overwhelmed. And there are a few.

• He calls us as His children to spread His love.
• He calls us as His children to share His word.
• He calls us as His children to spend time with Him.
• He gives us the clear instruction to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

However, after we place this lens over our eyes to understand who we are in Him. We can move forward and figure out who He made us specifically to be (a writer, doctor, swimmer, painter...) But until we know that nothing can shake us loose from His hand. NOTHING can remove us from being His Child. There is a security and safety that allows us to handle anything that comes our way in that knowledge that does not come from anything else.

When we are His Child, who can be against us?

When we are His Child, we can take courage because He will fight for us.

When we are His Child, He will never leave us, nor forsake us.

When we are His Child, we are gifted to be as strong as we need to be because we can handle all things through Him who strengthens us.


When we are His Child, we can be courageous in all endeavors because He has told us to 'Take courage.'

When we are His Child, we are able to find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Because we are given the fruit of the Holy Spirit

You see, dear reader, you might be married and your spouse passes away, or divorces - you are no longer a wife, or husband. You are someone's daughter or son until your parent dies and then you are no longer a daughter or a son. If you are a teacher, you might lose your voice and can no longer teach. You might have a child and no matter how much you don't want it to happen, that child might pass away. You are no longer mother, father. You can lose your job and no longer be what you once were.

But NOTHING can EVER remove you from being a Child of God. NOTHING can separate you from Him.

And because we are his children we have love that is bestowed on us that helps us deal with the hardships of life we can look with confidence at any part of the world that does not receive us.

Be excited about this reality. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior you are His child and you are safe.

Until next Monday.
Next week we will take a break from this series because it is Christmas week.
Look forward to sharing my Christmas thoughts.

He is the I AM,
i am
Robyn Rochelle Cox

and Biff and I are thankful you are here.

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