What an incredible honor it is that is bestowed upon all those who place their trust in Christ Jesus for salvation! We are called sons and daughters of the Living God! Take a look at a few verses that verify this;
2 Corinthians 6:18, “I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” Hebrews 2:10
“creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:21
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,” Galatians 3:26
See? What an honor?
So the question is, How are we living in light of such grace and honor?
Today, I see several main groups of children being raised in America. I’ll address just two of them.
- The entitlement kids
- And the godly kids
Both can be raised in Christian homes. Both can be taught to read their Bibles and go to church. But both can part ways and become like night and day if one common mistake is made by their parents. Here it is…
If the children are taught—even subtly—that God exists to bring health, wealth and comfort to his children—that He bled and died so that we might have heaven on earth—things are going to go south pretty quickly for those kids—the entitlement kids.
Why?
Because it’s not true. And nowhere in the Bible does it say it is. But that doesn’t stop millions upon millions of “christians” from believing that it is. Now why in the world would anyone grab hold of something nonexistent and give their whole life to it?
Simple. They want it to be true. Really, really, really badly—they want it to be true. Because then the story is all about them instead of all about God. Sadly for them, it doesn’t change the story in the least. It’s still HIStory and all about Jesus—not MYstory and all about me.
But being a child of the living God is not like being a spoiled brat of a fifth marriage Hollywood love fest. It’s not the same as being brought up in Beverly Hills 90210 and learning to view your parents as earthly vending machines. God’s number one goal for His children is not their earthy popularity, comfort, wealth and perfect health—if it were, then He and His disciples were miserable failures!
“If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.” Hebrews 12:8
This weekend we wrap up our series on the book of Jonah called—“The Deep.” If I’ve learned anything on this current tour through the book, it’s that God is much more interested in our character than our comfort.
Still, don’t miss this…God is still referred to as the “Comforter.” In fact, that’s one of the names of the Holy Spirit—one of His main roles. God isn’t some sort of sadistic torturer who carefully waits to ounce on those getting too cozy in the lazy boys of life. It’s just that His comfort has a greater purpose—an eternal one, so it seldom lasts on this earth for long periods of time. It just isn’t conducive to the Christ followers assignment of daily cross carrying.
So He will comfort those who are His own but there’s a greater purpose than our comfort…
Our development.