Not
saying this to upset you—but the truth must be known.
I heard it again just a few days ago, “We’re all God’s
children.”
It sounds so nice—so comforting—so inclusive. To someone
who believes in God or thinks there might be a God, it gives some degree of
false hope. But, it’s just not true. God Himself has the last word on this
concept.
It is true that
God loves everyone. He even loves us all equally. He created each of us in His
own image (Genesis 1:27).
God wants every single human being to be in His forever
family. He wants to be the Father of each one of us. It’s His desire that none
parish—that is that none suffer eternal damnation (2 Peter 3:9).
When God created the universe, the creatures and Mankind,
He wanted all people who ever lived to be His family. But He wanted us to be in
His family, not because He forced it, but because we chose it. We all have free
will by God’s design.
Even after being warned not to eat of the tree, Adam and
Eve, of their own free will, turned against God and ate the fruit. Sin occurred
and all manner of hardship befell Mankind. And like Adam and Eve, we can
choose.
At God’s appointed time, He sent His Son, Jesus, to walk
among men, teaching about the Kingdom of God. If you haven’t read the four gospels
recently I highly recommend you do so. Learn Jesus. Be reminded of the things
He said and did. (The four gospels are the books of Matthew, Mark Luke and
John, in the Bible.)
Ultimately Jesus completed His earthly mission. He was
crucified, died, buried, rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven where He
now sits at the right hand of God the Father. By His coming, suffering and
dying Jesus bore the punishment we deserved. “Thank You, Jesus!”
This is the pathway our Heavenly Father provided for us
to be restored to right relationship with Himself. The sacrifice of Jesus on
the cross is the answer to the dilemma of Mankind’s sin which separated us from
Holy God. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NIV).
Speaking of Jesus John wrote, “But as many who received
Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe
in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13 NKJV).
So when we are born of God—that is born-again—we become
His own child. That’s how we become children of God.
How do we get to be born of God? We believe in and
receive Jesus. We believe He is who the Bible says He is and we invite Him and
receive Him into our own hearts. We embrace Him as the Lord of our lives. Then
we are the children of God.
When we do this, we have become children of God by
adoption with all the rights of a natural-born child. “But when the fullness of
time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV).
So when we make the conscious decision to believe and
receive Jesus as our Savior we’re then adopted into God’s own family and have
every right to call out to Him, “Abba, Father—Daddy!”
Conversely, anyone who is not born-again as described
above is not a child of God—is not in God’s family.
As stated in John 14, Jesus
is the only way to reconciliation with God.
Many people desperately want there
to be several ways to God but no matter how hard they wish, it’s just not that
way.
The only alternative to being in God’s family is to be in
Satan’s family, condemned to eternal damnation. Don’t get mad at me for stating
this. Take it up with God. I suggest you get to know Him through studying His
Word—the Bible. That will help explain why it is what it is.
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your
ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens area higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’”
(Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV).
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free” (John 8:32 NIV).
Your comments are welcome. Inappropriate comments will be
deleted.
©Copyright
2017 Connie Wohlford
