WHO ARE GOD'S CHILDREN?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Romans 8:12-14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Having children is such a blessing and I speak from experience. My two girls are 38 (soon to be 39 this week) and 35 respectively and I remember them growing up like it was yesterday. They brought such joy to my life and left me with a lifetime of special memories of the time we spent together. And although they both have moved onto lives of their own, they are still my girls who I love so very much.

Yes, I count it a great privilege to have had the blessing to parent because I came to realize that the girls didn’t really belong to me. Rather, they were God’s children and He had entrusted me with the task of raising them up from childhood to adulthood, to a place where they could serve Him and even have children of their own if it was His will. Looking at my two girls in the light of who they were in relation to the Lord added an extra needed layer of accountability to my work as a parent for I would answer to the Lord Himself for the work I would do in child rearing. There was added pressure, no question, but God let me know through His Word and Spirit that He was with me and would give me everything I needed, to include wisdom and strength, to endure the challenges ahead, the challenges that inevitably come as one parents their kids.

God helps us get our children to adulthood but then, they are responsible for the choices and decisions they make. They have to make the commitment to Jesus themselves and accept Him as their personal Savior. No parent can save their children. Only Jesus can do that.

What a parent can do is take that child of God and lead them to Jesus while raising them, especially as they reach their teenage years, teaching them to live by the Holy Spirit and not the flesh. We can make sure our children understand how sin separates them from the God who fashioned them in their mother’s womb and leads them down the road of certain destruction and damnation. And we can make sure they appreciate the cross and the redeeming work that Jesus did for them while paying the price for their sins and purchasing their pardon. Parents can and should be guiding their children toward salvation through Christ and a life lived in devotion and service to Him.

Paul didn’t parent any of the Romans who would read his letter but he wanted them to know where they stood before God. He wanted them to know that there were only two possible outcomes for them after death, two eternal paths: Hell or Heaven.

If they lived for the flesh, then they would die an unsaved sinner and live in the agony of Hell forever.

If they chose to allow the Holy Spirit to guide them, then they would learn to “put to death the misdeeds of the body” and find their way to eternal life. They would also become a true child of the God Most High and a co-heir to the Kingdom with Jesus Himself.

Indeed, God has a special place for those who choose to be His children after they reach adulthood, those who opt to follow Jesus and receive His offer of salvation.

I pray you are counted in that number this day, loved by a God who didn’t wish for you to perish but rather to have eternal life through His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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