God''s People--God's Child--IV

That a group of people is "the people of God" indicates that collectively they are his child and individually they are his children (sons and daughters). This suggests certain feelings and actions which are appropriate for the child or the children in relationship to God the parent:

1. God's children love and are genuinely thankful for all God their parent has done and is doing for them. Thus, the first and great commandment is: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Jesus himself commends this attitude as the highest of all the commandments (Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 10:25-28).

2. God's children joyfully receive and observe the commandments or instructions of God their parent. 1 John 5:2-3 says: "This is how we know we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome."

3. God's children enthusiastically follow God their parent's example. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:1-2a: "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love. . ." Jesus says in Matthew 5:44-45a: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven . . ."

4. God's children depend on and trust in God their parent under all circumstances, especially when the going gets tough. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:6-7: "In this [your salvation from God--see verse 5] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

It is unbelievable that human beings, with all their limitations and flaws and inconsistencies and deceptions and sins, can be children of God. 1 John 3:1 puts it this way: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" May God help us grow more like him as he shapes us into his image through Jesus Christ.

John Willis