See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.
And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. {1Jn 3: 1 – 3 NLT}
God’s love brought an entitlement on us, which no human love can give to us. It gave us the rare privilege to be called sons. It gives us an identity with Him to know us and for us to have access to Him.
Knowing comes from the willingness to have a relationship with someone. Most often, we can so much recognise the voice of our parents anywhere and at anytime. In the same way, God has deposited in us His Spirit, so we can recognise and discern His voice whenever He calls.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father {Rom 8:15 NLT}
As we grow in our relationship with the Father, every part of our life changes to become like Him. As He deals with our unbelief, we tend to see and believe what He has spoken; as He deals with our words, we tend to speak as He would have spoken in that particular situation. In other words, His life is reflected in us generally.
In Gen.1:26-27, the first man was made in the image and likeness of God, but sin took that great privilege away from the humanity. That is what the death and resurrection of Christ restored to the human race, but it can only be gotten through a personal relationship with Jesus. The more we develop a constant relationship with him, the more of His likeness we have. A son can only get to know his entitlements as much as he relates with his father.
God desires this kind of relationship with us so we can come to be like Him. That is the purpose of our creation.
Last modified: July 28, 2015
