A Concern Letter to ‘Children of God’ (to Believe and Live)

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12NIV)

Dear children of God,

Introduction

There are times when I feel uneasy whenever I heard people claiming themselves as children of God. Not because I doubt that God won’t accept ‘those who believe’ but I wonder do the claimers know what it means ‘to become children of God’ and to live as one. There is this fire of concern-holy anger-love whenever I heard or read someone proclaimed proudly without ashamed of their present conscious acts of sinful lifestyle that he or she is ‘children of God’ and live contrast to what God required from His children. [P.s: I’m aware that by saying this, I might not get much invitation to speak in the nearest future.]

Therefore, I’m prompted to write this letter…

Become children of God

As a child of God, you receive God’s gift of everlasting life. God is with you now and forever. The words ‘he [God] gave the right’ mean that God is the Giver and the Initiator in our relationship with Him. We ‘who received him [Jesus, God Only Son, who paid the price of our sins on the cross], to those who believed in his name [that by the name of Jesus, God looks upon you as if you never sinned]’ are welcome in God’s family by His grace alone – meaning to say that: We ‘become children of God’ because of the grace of God, the gift of God through His Son, Jesus Christ by faith – if you believe.

 If you believe this, you are now a child of God. God has forgiven all your sin. You are a Christian and that what makes you a member of His family. Welcome, oh you, true children of God.

Live as God’s Child

Now that you are a member of God’s family; you can called Him – ‘Abba Father’. And to identify Him as ‘our Father in heaven’ is to breathe Christ, to imitate Christ and to live as His child. There are 4 essentials on How to Live as God’s Child that I want to share with you in this brief article;

1) Talk to God

Because God is now your heavenly Father, He wants you to talk to Him in prayer. You can tell God how you feel, thank Him, ask Him to help you in your daily life, to give you strength, to guide you and to give Him praise. You can also talk to God when you are sin. [“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9] Pray that God will help you do what He says. God’s child ought to live in prayer.

2) Read God’s Word

God also want to communicate with us through His Word. He wants His children to know about Him and to read about His great love. Reading God’s Word is to listen to God’s spoken. Read the bitter-sweet of God’s Word as a whole (not just 1 Corinthians 13 or John 3:16) and learn who is God daily (I tell you, God is more than ‘Allah itu baik’, ‘dahsyat’, ‘berkuasa’, etc.). Children of God ought to hidden God’s Word in their heart (Psalm 119:11a).

3) Obey God

Your Father wants you to obey Him. He already tells you in His Word how you should live as His children. Jesus summed up God’s law with two commandments; 1) Love God with all that you are, and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. Children of God live in obedience not rebellion. God helps us.

4) Tell others about Jesus

Children of God have Good News to share! We are not supposed to ‘hide’ it in the four-walls of our ‘exclusive’ religious club. We are not to be proud as if we become the children of God because of our self-righteousness, but in fact it is because of His grace, God Righteousness – it’s free! We don’t deserve it, yet receive it anyway, so why we ‘hold’ this amazing grace to ourselves or to our own ‘family members’?

Jesus want us, His children to be his witnesses (see Acts 1:8) in the world. Tell others about Jesus and how His love has helped you. God call, but you spread it. God gift, but you share it. Ask God to give you opportunities each day to tell about – and to show – God’s love.

Closing

To call or to proclaim ourselves as God’s Children, we should examine our relationship toward God. Am I right with God? Am I living a prayer life? Do I love to read His Word? Am I an obedience child? Am I eager to share the Good News to others who don’t know Christ? Oh, if you say yes to all of the above… please call yourselves God’s Child – for indeed, the spirit of God is with you because it is He who “gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12NIV)

Peace to you,

Richard AngelusTHINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.