It's a Family Matter

“I am the way, the truth, and the life...

no one comes to the Father except through Me

(John 14:6)

“After all, we’re all God’s children,” I overheard a woman say as I passed a group of ladies. If only it were so, I thought to myself.  Unfortunately, according to God’s Word, that simply isn’t the case.  While it is true that we are all products of His creation, we are not all members of His family kingdom.

Lest I sound like a religious elitist who believes that only certain people deserve the privilege of belonging to His family, let me hasten to assure that the exact opposite is true.  Membership in God’s family is open to everyone.  It is not His will that anyone be left out:

The Lord is...not willing that any should perish 

but that all should come to repentance

(2 Peter 3:9)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten (born-to-Him) Son

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life

(John 3:16)

In an earlier devotional, we established that just as membership in a physical family requires birth, so does membership in God’s spiritual family.  We looked at the fact that we humans are 2-in-1 beings -- an outer (physical) body and an inner (spiritual) being.   Because God’s family kingdom is spiritual, it is within the spiritual part of us that the second birth takes place.

With that fact in mind, it is easy to understand why things done in the physical realm, do not bring about spiritual birth. Because of this, it stands to reason that things like good deeds, good behavior, church attendance, baptism or church membership are important but will not save us from the penalty of sin:

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,

but by faith in Jesus Christ 

(Galatians 2:16)

Jesus said we can only come to God the Father through Him.  So how does one go about doing that?  God has made it, and spelled it out, very plainly so that even a child can understand. It can be explained as simply as ABC:

A - admit that you are a sinner. We all fail to live up to God’s standard of perfection:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 

(Romans 3:23)

     

B - believe that Jesus’death, burial and resurrection paid the penalty for our sin:

 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life 

in Christ Jesus our Lord 

(Romans 6:23) 

A gift is free.  If we have to pay for something, it is no longer a gift,.  On the cross, Jesus took our place and paid the penalty for all the sins of the world -- past, present and future

C - confess that you receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord: 

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe

in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,

you will be saved.  

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness , 

and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation...

for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved 

(Romans 10:9-10,13)

New birth in the spiritual being takes place inside a person, and so it is difficult to explain how it happens.  Just as we cannot see the wind, but we can see and feel its effects, so it is with spiritual birth.  The new believer becomes a new person on the inside:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; 

old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new 

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

New birth brings with it the indwelling of the Holy Spirit Who is the third member of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).  His function is to identify the believer as a child of God the Father, and a member/citizen of His family kingdom.  His presence guarantees that the familial relationship is eternal:

Now He Who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us in God,

Who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee

(2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

As a spiritual newborn in God’s family, growth needs to happen, just as in the case of a physical baby.  This is another activity of the Holy Spirit.  As we read the Bible. He reveals truths, and shows us where growth needs to take place.  Then He helps us make the necessary changes

Just as growth in the physical sense does not occur overnight, so spiritual growth takes place over the lifetime of the believer.  None of us will ever achieve the perfect example of Jesus’ life on Earth, but that is the goal toward which we are to grow.

The life of a believer will not be free of challenges, but we no longer have to face them in our own strength alone, thanks to the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit:

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, 

to be strengthened  with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 

that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith 

(Ephesians 3:17)

Lord, When I look at my life in the light of Your Word,
and see failures to which I must own,
I also find help for the changes required --
I never could do it alone.
The cross holds the victory now that I need;
You died there to set my life free;
it’s only by trusting Your wonderful power
I’ll become what You want me to be.


Glenda Collins Inman