He came to His own people who did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.    John 1:11-13 HCSB

There is a popular misconception that we are all God’s children. This is not true. Our Scripture passage clearly tells us that we must receive Him and believe in His name to be children of God.

God wants all of us to be adopted into His family, but we must accept this adoption willingly. He doesn’t force it on us.

Being a child of God is not always easy. Romans 8:16-17 tells us, “The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs-heirs of God and coheirs with Christ-seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Just imagine that a multi-billionaire wanted to adopt you and told you that all of his riches would be bestowed on you. Would you accept that adoption? But then what if he told you there would be suffering as well, would it still be appealing? Would it be worth it?

We may suffer and go through trials and tribulations and even be persecuted for being a child of God, but it will be well worth it when we get to spend eternity in heaven with our Lord and Savior.

If this multi-billionaire laid out some rules and told you violating these rules would require him to discipline you, would you still accept it? We know that discipline can be unpleasant, but we also know it’s necessary.

God disciplines us because He loves us. He wants us to be our best for Him. He wants us to do well and finish strong, so He disciplines us. We should not grow weary or give up when we are disciplined, but we should learn from our mistakes and strive to do better.

As children of God, we stick out. Today, we see a world filled with evil and corruption. We see people grumbling and arguing and fighting when they don’t get their way. Philippians 2:14-15 says, “Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.” We must not act and sound like the rest of the world.

We must let our lights shine. We don’t have to speak to others to witness to them, we can witness in the way we live our lives. We live with a hope that we will one day be just like Him and be purified. 1 John 1-3 says, “Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us it that it didn’t know Him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be, has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.”

God loves us so much that He gave His own Son to die for our sins so that we may be purified through Him. He wants us to spend eternity in heaven with Him. To do this, we must accept Christ as our Savior and believe in Him. We must be willing to turn from our sinful ways and strive for purity and righteousness. We must be willing to be adopted into His family.

Have you been adopted? If not, turn to Him today. Trust in Him and believe in Him and be one of His children. God has chosen all of us to be His children, but we won’t become a child of God until we agree to the adoption.

Have a great day!