Children of God

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1) Just let that sink in a bit. . . . . . children of God. . . . . . . God—the creator of the universe, the Almighty, most powerful being—his children. We have his spirit, will inherit his kingdom, and will live with him eternally. Do I hear a Hallelujah! out there? 😁 I like how John adds this phrase: “and so we are.” It’s as if he, too, was in awe of the statement he just wrote. . . “children of God; and so we are!”

John inserts here that the world does not comprehend this idea of people being children of God because they do not know God. And that is the prerequisite of being his child—knowing God, knowing who his Son is, and wanting that relationship with him. The relationship, by the way, is crucial. Many people believe there is a God, and some people know about God. But it is not the same as being “called children of God. . . . and so we are.”

However, we, too, struggle with this concept because our vision of God is blurred and distorted. “For now we see in a mirror dimly.” (2) Despite God’s spirit living within us, we are not what we should be or could be, and many days we do not act like children of God and do not feel like children of God. Even so, “Beloved, we are God’s children now.” (3) “And so we are.”

But we can count on this: One day, “when he appears we shall be like him.” (3) One day we will be holy, complete, perfect, sinless. Imagine that! Living a truly fulfilled life every day, forever. Why can we not ascertain this completeness now? Why must we wait? As I said, our vision is limited. Our understanding of God is quite imperfect, certainly smaller than the reality of who he is. And our transformation will not take place until we can “see him as he is.”(3)  That’s when “we shall be like him.”

Until then, we just need to concentrate on being his children, calling on our Father for everything because he so so loves us. John implores us to “see what kind of love the Father has given us.”  David got it. He wrote “His steadfast love endures forever.” (4) And he repeated it 26 times in Psalm 136! 🤪

Perhaps we, too, should spend our days repeating this truth to ourselves: “His steadfast love endures forever.”  Then, maybe we can better understand that we are the children of God . . . “and so we are!” 😀

(1) 1 John 3:1     (2) 1 Corinthians 13:12     (3) 1 John 3:2    (4) Psalm 136