Our identity is important to us as we identify ourselves as what we are. As Christians, we are told that our first identity is being a child of God. But what does being a child of God mean?
I have been reminded the past few days that I am a precious child of God and I wanted to share what it means for me to be a child of God.
First, I am so loved by God. In my state of aloneness, insecurity, and worry, I fall down so quickly. One negative thought brings my whole day down, even my whole week! But as I am falling, there is this net that catches me every time I fall. It is invisible to me in my weakness, but it's always there.
This net is God's love. There is a visual image that I think of when I think about who God is. The image is I am falling off a cliff. My failures, weakness, discouragements, and doubts pushed me off this cliff and I am falling. I cannot see the bottom of where I am falling. I close my eyes and I accept that I am in need of help and then I stop. Something catches me. This something turns out to be someone, and it is God. He brings me up, back to solid ground.
In Psalms 18:16-19 it says, "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."
I realized that no matter how far I fall, God is ALWAYS there, waiting for me to just surrender and give it up to Him. There are many parts of our life that we cannot control and cannot survive with our own strength. That's why we fall. We are weak, but He is strong!
Second, being a child of God means sisters and brothers in Christ everywhere. In my recent travels and meet-ups with new friends, I have built a special relationship with fellow Christians. There is this strong connection that sparks when you meet people who are also a child of God.
A close friend of mine, who has recently moved to a new state, shared about her encounter with two Christian co-workers. Each vulnerability from her co-workers was unexpected, but as her co-workers shared about their faith, my friend shared how there was this automatic bond between them, and for us, that's what we call the work of Holy Spirit.
When we call our Christian friends 'sisters and brothers in Christ', there is an importance in that title. There is a purpose in that title and it's quite special as it refers to unity and oneness under God. As a child of God, a family is given to us wherever we go.
As it says in Colossians 3:12-14, "You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity."
These two are two important realizations I have been having these days. It's exciting to be a child of God!
