But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God (John 1:12-13).
To be clear, to gain acceptance into God's family is not through hard work or for those who perform the best. No, it’s for those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. When I give a gift to someone, I have yet to ever hear anyone say, “I really worked really hard for that.” If they did, I would say they understand how to belong to the family. That’s the portrait that this scripture is painting of God's family. God's gift of family is freely given to all who believe in Jesus, trust in what He has done for our salvation, and in this, we have been given the right to be children of God.
I agree with J. Packer who wrote in his book Knowing God writes, “What is a Christian? The richest answer I know is one who knows God as their father.” So what we need to do is accept the opportunity to be in a relationship of family and not a religion of performance. Think about the Pharisees who Jesus called out as actors, hypocrites, who were more into performing but not belonging. Jesus confronts them about this family disconnect and reveals the problem. "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God...You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires...The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God" (John 8:42,44,47).
I know someone reading this may not have had a healthy relationship or possibly any real relationship at all with their earthly father. And this may impact your picture of God our Father, but let us listen to how God is described by scripture, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). He is a loving Father who remains in love with you and that will never change.
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