Identity

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."  I John 3:1-2

"Passport!", barked the immigration officer.  Startled by his unconcealed disdain, I fumbled around for my critical piece of identification.  There have only been two occasions in my life where I have found myself in need of a passport.  It was quite obvious to me that failure to have one would have been bad, really bad.  Countries seem to be quite particular these days as to who they are willing to allow to traipse around their countryside.  Bottom line: they want to and need to know who you are.

John, as he was contemplating his word of challenge and encouragement to his readers, found himself bursting at the seams regarding this same issue of identity.  If words on a page could shout, his words, "children of God!", would still be ringing in our ears.  If we have made the eternally significant decision to put our faith and trust in Jesus, we have been given a new "life passport" if you will.  Printed in bold letters on the cover: "Child of God".  With it, come all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of one who is a child of the King of Kings. 

Our core identity now is not spouse, parent, our occupation, a good deed done, a failure, an accomplishment, a tragedy, etc.  Nope.  We are now God's child.  Before anything else and in the middle of every imaginable and unimaginable circumstance, God is our heavenly Father and we are his children.  Until this issue of identity is squared away in our souls, life doesn't really have a coherent flow.  Bottom line: we need to know who we are. 

Grace and Peace,

Tom

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