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Finding my Identity as a Child of God | John 1:12-13

• August 22, 2021
• Jonathan Romig
• Child of God , Discipleship , Everyday Life , Family , Identity , Theology
• Rest, Renewal & Grace

Today I want to share a passage I was meditating on during sabbatical. I started reading the gospel of John and for a while, I got caught up on these two verses.

John 1:12-13 (ESV) But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

These verses caught my eye because they talk about Christians being identified as children of God . I wrestle with what it means to be a child of God. Do you know what that means? Do you get it? Other pastors tell me all the time how important this is, and how identifying as children of God can make a huge difference.

I went into sabbatical really wanting to experience what it means to be a child of God.   See, I don’t believe everyone is a child of God, only people God adopts into his family. But just because I know a “theological truth” that “I’m a child of God” through faith in Christ doesn’t mean I really get it in my heart.  

Unfortunately, I can’t say I figured it all out on sabbatical, but I want to share a few things the Lord is teaching me. Three words help us find our identity as children of God: blood, flesh, and will.  

1a) I’m not a child of God because of my blood.

I’m sorry if you’re squeamish about blood, like I am, but the passage talks about it. “…he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood…” I won’t be showing you any pictures of ER or Grey’s Anatomy . My mom used to like watching those shows when we had an old TV that had lots of static and the color wasn’t very good. When we got a high-def television, she didn’t like them as much. Too much blood! Blood may be kinda gross, but it’s also really significant for identity.

Remember who wrote this book. Jesus’ disciple John wrote the gospel of John, one of Jesus’ most beloved disciples. He’s Jewish, but he’s writing the gospel of John to a mixed audience made up of Jews and Gentiles, non-Jews. In the verse right before ours, John says the Israelites rejected Jesus and then adds, “But to all who did receive him.” One of John’s most important messages in the gospel of John is that “all” or “whoever” believes in Jesus receives eternal life, whether they have Jewish blood or non-Jewish blood.  

That’s a complete turn of events because for over a thousand years the story they’ve been living has been all about blood. Back in Deuteronomy 14:1 God identified the Israelite people as “the sons of the Lord your God.” The Israelites were to be one blood. The sign that marked all males as Jewish was a sign stamped in blood, circumcision. The Israelite people, and Jewish people today, still find a lot of identify and security in believing they are children of Abraham and God’s chosen people. But John is saying you’re not a child of God, or Abraham, because of your blood type or mark made in blood but through faith in Christ Jesus.

I was able to make progress on my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) this summer. One of the people helping keep me accountable is Pastor Nathan Willems, the English Pastor at CBCGL. We’ve been reading each other’s chapters and encouraging one another. His project is about second-generation Asian-Americans and identity formation. He’s now the English pastor, but he was the Youth Pastor for many years, and found that children of immigrants, second-generation immigrants have a difficult time figuring out who they are. Am I Chinese? Am I American? Am I Christian? I feel out of place. In his paper, he shares this quote from the book, Becoming Asian American :

One of Meg’s most vivid early memories, from when she was about 8 years old, was that of a group of neighborhood children, primarily white, following and harassing her as she walked home from school. They pulled their eyelids up to make fun and chanted racial slurs. When Meg got home, her parents comforted her. Besides advising her to ignore the attacks, they also emphasized that she should take pride in her Chinese ancestry: “They told me not to pay any attention, that the kids were just ignorant and mean. They also told me that I was Chinese, it was in my blood, it wasn’t something to be ashamed of. It was one of the few times they actually talked about it, but I think it was really important to them that we be proud of being Chinese.”

Maybe you can relate to that. You find a lot of identity in your Asian blood, your American blood, your New England blood (also known as Dunkin blood), or your family’s blood. I find a significant amount of identity in being a Romig, son of Paul and Ellen, brother of Christy, Timothy, Matthew, and Nathanael. But here, in this text, Christians can find a new way to identify themselves. And if you’re someone who has struggled with ethnic or family identity, here’s a new way to identify yourself, as a child of God.

We’re born, not of human blood, but of God. “But to all who did receive HIM, who believed in HIS name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Whose the “him?” Who do we receive to become a child of God? Who do we believe in to get this new identity? Jesus! I’m not a child of God because of my blood…

1b) I’m a child of God because of His blood.

These two verses, 12-13, tell us that we “become children of God . . . not by blood, flesh, or man, but by God.” So you have to kind of back track and ask, how does God make us his child? By his blood, his flesh, his man. I’m a child of God because of Christ’s blood on the cross, ultimately, because of God’s blood.

We’ve been in the book of Acts for a while, and are going back next week. And one verse that really stuck out to me describes God bleeding for us. Paul says, “Care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28b ESV) God, through Christ Jesus, spilt his own blood on the cross to save us from our sins so that whoever believes in him can receive eternal life but also be adopted into a new family.

God’s blood, through Christ’s blood, doesn’t just save us, it transforms our identity. No longer are we foreigners and aliens to God, but his beloved children. The blood of God covers us on the cross. What is one of the primary rituals Jesus gave all believers to remember him, and form community? Communion, the Lord’s Supper, where he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25b ESV) He wants us to remember his shed blood, to symbolically internalize his shed blood, and for our identities as believers and as a church to be defined by his shed blood.

When you put your faith and trust in Christ Jesus, Christ’s blood covers you, not just cleansing you from sin, but giving you a new identity as a child of God. You can still find identity in your Asian American blood or European American blood or African American blood or Romig blood, but as Christians, the blood of Christ gives us eternal identity that far surpasses anything this world offers. I’m not a child of God because of my blood, but because of His blood, and his blood covers me through Christ.

2a) I’m not a child of God because of my flesh.

John says we don’t become God’s children through the “flesh.” Nothing the Jewish people or the Gentile people could do with their bodies could make them children of God. When we think about identity formation, we often think about what we do, don’t we. What’s the first thing people ask you when they meet you? What do you do? I’m a pastor. I’m a civil engineer. I’m a teacher. The Jewish people also found a lot of identity in the things they did, especially obeying the law of God. God gave them lots of rules to follow back in Exodus through Deuteronomy, and those laws gave them a lot of identity. But John says there’s nothing you can do in your flesh that will make you a child of God, no rule you can follow, no law you can keep.  

You might have had a father or a mother or teacher or significant authority in your life who insisted we acted or behaved a certain way. They could have insisted on good things, like doing your chores, your homework, being polite, etc. And each of us probably discovered that when we did those things, our parents or parental figure seemed happier with us. What we did in the flesh really mattered for the day to day relationship with them. Some of our parents did a good job of assuring us that they love us no matter how we behave, but some did not. Here’s the dark side of all this.  

I can come to believe deep in my soul that my heavenly father feels the same way about me. That he only loves me when I’m obeying him. And pretty soon you and I begin to live under a constant raincloud of feeling like we’re always disappointing our heavenly father. Maybe he does love us, but in kind-of a frustrated way. Do you ever feel that way? I feel that way all the time. But here’s the thing, I’m not a child of God because of my flesh, because of the things I do in the body.

2b) I’m a child of God because of His flesh.

Before Jesus started his ministry, before he multiplied the fish and loaves and walked on water, before he proved he wouldn’t fall to Satan’s temptation, the father said this about Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17b ESV) Before Jesus ever accomplished the mission his father had given him, his father said how much he loved him, and that he was “well pleased” with him.  

When we believe in Jesus, we become identified as being “in Christ” (Romans 6:11, 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17). In Christ, I’ve already lived a perfect life of obedience. In Christ, I’ve never ever disobeyed. In Christ, I’m not a disappointment, but the greatest glory. In Christ, my heavenly father also says of me, “This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”  

I know that can be hard to hear. I struggle to hear it because I want to prove myself. I also argue back. Yeah, but we’re supposed to obey (John 14:15). Yes, but we obey not in order to win love, but as a response to love. I love my son and my daughter and I hope they’ll obey, but their lack of obedience does not make them any less my child who I absolutely adore. There’s nothing I can do in my flesh to make myself any more or any less his child than I already am.  

The verse after ours says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14a ESV). God recognized that in our own flesh we’re not enough, which is why he came. We’re not just not God’s children, Paul actually calls us “children of wrath” (see Ephesians 2:1-10). God didn’t just come to save us, but to make us his children, to adopt us into his family. How he did that was by putting his flesh on the line. But once he laid down his flesh on the cross through Christ Jesus, our very identity changes. And the question becomes, do I identify more as a “child of God” or as a “child of wrath?” Part of believing the gospel is learning to identify more as a child of God, no matter what I feel inside. I am a child of God because of his blood and his flesh and his will.

3) I am not a child of God because of my will but because of his will.

John talks about “the will of the flesh” and “the will of man.” If I trust in Jesus, there is nothing I can think or will that makes me any more or less God’s child. If I can only have a pure thought life, then God will love me. False. God loves you as his child and is helping change your thought life. If I can only get the mental help I need, then God will love me. God loves you no matter your mental health. If I can only have the right goals and aspirations, then God will love me. Wrong, God loves you because your his child, because you love his Son. It was the will of God, his will, that you would be his child.

On sabbatical I also read the book of Job. The book of Job is the story of a really successful man losing everything. He losses his family, his wealth, his wife’s love, and his friends’ support, his happiness, his joy. And we’re led to wonder if Job will curse God and die. But instead, Job chooses to trust in God, the mighty God who made the heavens and the earth and the underworld itself (Job 26). And by the end of Job, God shows up and says how he made the earth and the sky and the rain and the seas (Job 38).  

I was sitting on top of Mt. Avalon in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, close to Mt. Washington, just looking at the side of a mountain covered it lots and lots of trees. God reminded me that the one who made all of that loves me. This summer I saw the mountains of Colorado, the mountains of New Hampshire, the Atlantic ocean along Cape Cod, and I heard deep in my soul that it was the will of the one who made all of that that I would be his child. And if you know Jesus, the creator of the mountains and the oceans, your creator, it’s his will that you would be his child too.  

God calls you his child and there’s nothing you can do about it but believe in Jesus.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” There is some sort of deep paradox here. You can’t win God’s favor through your blood, your flesh, or your will. God loves you and adopts you into his family. You believe because you’ve received and yet you also believe to receive. It’s as we believe in Christ and wrestle with our identities that we come to know we are God’s children. Maybe today’s sermon message helped, but maybe you’re just more confused than ever.

Here’s what I’m doing. There are a couple of things I pray for on a semi-regular basis, and one of those things is that I would know deep in my soul that I am a child of God. Sometimes I pray that for my family too. If you wrestle with finding your identity as a child of God, then add it to your prayers. Pray it for yourself, for your family, and for your church family, including your pastor. God calls you his child and there’s nothing you can do about it but believe in Jesus.

Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen via  Apple Podcasts . Read the story of our church here .

Discussion Questions

• What does it mean to be a child of God?
• Do you identify yourself as a child of God? Why or why not?
• How do blood, flesh, and will tell us about being children of God.
• How do we become children of God? Is it something we’re born with?

Take a moment to pray to identify as a child of God.

Church Service

You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube .

Nazli Kibria, Becoming Asian American (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 42. *Thank you Pastor Nathan for giving me permission to reference your D.Min project.

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• Audio (MP3) 26 MB

I Am A Child Of God Bible Study

Note: The page numbers listed in this study correspond with pages in the PDF printed version. The questions at the end likewise correclate with the printed version.

Introduction

This Bible study is written from the perspective of helping you better 

understand who God the Father is so that you can step deeper into your identity as a child of God. 

Identity is never an easy thing, especially for women. We can have a really hard time feeling secure in who we are for many reasons. Furthermore, as Christian women, we are adopted as children of God. But understanding God as our Parent – as our Father- can presents difficulties for so many of us (myself included) because of  negative experiences with our earthly fathers in the past. 

In this study, it’s my hope to share with you much of the insight that I have gained on this important issue, not only in seminary or as a professional minister, but also through my personal experience as a disciple of Jesus.

It is because of my relationship with Jesus that God has truly become my Father, my Parent. While I have still room to grow in this reality, I am overjoyed to share with you the wisdom God has bestowed upon my heart and life, and I do pray this Bible study is revolutionary for you.  

Seriously, we can never get close enough to God. There’s never a maximum amount we can learn, nor is there a place where we stop growing. To be a disciple is to follow Him every day. 

Jesus has so much in store for you, more than you can ever dream of! So I hope and pray that the time set apart for this study is transformational for you. May God do mighty things through the time you have devoted to learning more about His role as your Father. 

In Him and His enormous love, 

There are questions to help you process and retain the information at the end, and we encourage you to complete those questions after you finish reading.

All Biblical citations are taken from the World English Bible (WEB), which has a public domain copyright and can be freely reproduced.

All other works within this publication are copyright Spiritually Hungry 2019. Reproducing, sharing, copying, borrowing content, or sharing this content digitally or in print, without express written permission, is an infringement of the copyright.

I Am A Child Of God

During our final semester of seminary, Aaron came home from class one afternoon and said, “So, I’ve been thinking about all I’ve learned about our faith over the past three years here…and there is still one thing I’m not sure I understand that really bothers me.” Given the intensity of our study at Denver Seminary, I expected him to then share some obscure question about Christian theology that is rarely discussed outside of academic circles. I was quite surprised however, by the simplicity of the question he then stated.

“I’m not sure that I really understand who God the Father is,” he continued. “What does He do? I understand I’m His child – but seeing Him as my Father just doesn’t make sense to me…I don’t think I REALLY undestand this.” 

It’s a question that many Christians have struggled with over the centuries.

Being a child of God begins with understanding that God is our Parent. 

However, with that foundational recognition comes a whole host of issues that can trip us up and prevent us from living as the beloved child of God we are.

You see, we naturally first understand parenthood through the lens of this broken world – and that’s one of the biggest barriers that prevents Christians from genuinely embracing that they are a child of God.

For me personally, I know that understanding myself as a child of God was never an easy thing; I had a really hard time seeing God as a Father. 

My biological father abused his role in every sense and created a life of turmoil and destruction because of his decisions and actions. Thankfully, my mother found the strength to kick him out of our house, and eventually out of lives through the loss of his parental rights and a restraining order by court order. 

However, as a kid in elementary school, I was the only child that I knew with divorced parents. Even worse, I didn’t know a single family that suffered the level of abuse my sisters and mom did at the hands of their father.

In turn, I naturally questioned, “Why did I get the father I did? Why do all of my other friends have dads, but I don’t?” These questions haunted me for most of my childhood and adolescence. 

As a result, when I began my true walk with Jesus as a teenager, my past experiences with my biological father directly influenced my comfortability with the idea that God the Father.  

How could I embrace openly the idea that God is my “Father” when I had such a negative concept of what a father is from my own life experiences?

Whether you have had a good father in your own life or not, we can all  struggle with understanding God as our Father because everyone comes from human parents. 

Every single one of us was biologically created by a male and a female, and those people, just like you and I, are not perfect.

Yes, some parents are better than others, but every single parent, even if they are well intentioned and loving, makes mistakes. They fall short. They are human. 

All of us have experience with parents, whether they are biological parents or not… or were part of our lives or not, and those experiences are variegated and nuanced. 

Because of this, we often take our experience as the child of human parents and fuse it with our understanding of being a child of God. 

Let me be clear here – there is some overlap between the two. But our God is a parent far and above and beyond anything we could experience in our relationship with human parents.

Jesus teaches us an important truth about our Father God in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 7:9-11 (WEB)

9 Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

This teaching from Jesus is of paramount importance. 

Basically, what Jesus is saying is that if fallen, sin-driven, broken parents can provide for their children, then how much more can God – who is holy and perfect – provide for His children. 

And a child of God – that’s what you are!

You were formed by God’s hands in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139). 

God’s love for you is tender and good, and as we see through Jesus’ teaching, God is the supreme parent.

God is good, holy, and perfect. With Him there are no mistakes, no shortcomings, no failures. 

When God is our Parent, He is doing everything right, even if we may not understand it or are able to interpret it. 

While we may carry some baggage, either a lot or a little, in our knowledge of God as our Father, we must not rely solely on our understanding of earthly parents when we look to God as our parent. 

Because even good earthly parents are just a shadow of what God is to us – the ultimate and perfect parent.

It wasn’t until I started studying who God is – who the Father is, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is – and really looked into who I am as defined by God through the grace of Jesus Christ, that I was able to take hold of my identity as a child of God. 

There is so much theology and truth in the depths of being a child of God. But this truth, and living in the reality of it, requires time and dedication. 

Our commitment to discipleship is what enables God to heal our brokenness – the evil in this world that is trying to snatch up our birthright that Jesus paid for with His precious blood. 

You are God’s child, and the Bible is very clear on this issue.

When you decided to follow Jesus you were adopted as a child of God. (John 1:12; Eph. 1:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 8:15)

Again , it is through Jesus Christ that we become children of God. 

Likewise, it is through Jesus Christ that we understand who the Father is.

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.” (Jesus speaking in Matthew 11:27)

Because of Jesus and what He shows to us, we are able to know the first person of the Trinity- God the Father – and Jesus has a lot to say and show us about who the Father is.

First of all, we see from Scripture that when Jesus prays, He prays to the Father (John 17; Matthew 26:39, 42; Luke 23:34, 46 ). 

Jesus also had a deep dependency on the Father (Matthew 26:53). We learn to model our prayer and dependency on the Father through Jesus’ teachings and actions. This is just one of many ways Jesus models for us what being a child of God looks like.

Even more so, Jesus teaches us through a beautiful illustration of just who the Father is to us: The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

This parable is easily one of the most beloved and popular of Jesus parables. The story depicts a wayward son and his return back to grace through his father’s love. 

But despite its most commonly used title, this parable isn’t about the son. 

It’s about the father and his unconditional grace. 

Interestingly, Jesus Himself didn’t actually give titles for His parables. People throughout church history have instead applied titles to His parables to better reference and explain them. So, for the sake of better explaining this story to you in this study, I’m going to instead call it “The Parable of the Good Father.” 

The Parable Of the Good Father: Luke 15:11-32

11 He said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them. 13 Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. 14 When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 

15 He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. 

19 I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’

20 “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; 24 for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.

27 He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ 28 But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 

30 But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

31 “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”

There is so much meat to this parable that we could literally spend weeks exploring all the lessons, but for this Bible study I want us to focus on the actions and attitude of the Father. 

I believe looking at The Parable of the Good Father in this lens will help us stand stronger in our identity as a child of God. 

The story all begins with the younger of two sons requesting to receive his inheritance from his very much still alive father. 

This action was brazen, and not a normal request. Typically one waits until the relative passes before the inheritance is distributed, but not in this case. 

Since the younger son requests his inheritance before his father has passed, this son in effect is basically saying that he wishes his father were dead. 

In the act of taking an early inheritance, the younger son emancipates 

himself from the family, and from his responsibilities and duties of a son. In the ancient world, taking care of a father as he aged was a responsibility of sons, but by taking the money and leaving, this younger son essentially abdicated those responsibilities entirely. 

There could be few things more insulting to a father at the time than a son asking for his inheritance before moving away entirely.

The father in this parable undoubtedly fully comprehended all the nuances of his son asking for his inheritance. However, the father showed no reservations or offense in verse 12, and he gave the money to his youngest son. And at the same time, the father also gives the other part of the inheritance to his eldest son.

The stage is set all in verse 12, where Jesus is immediately trying to show us in the story the character of the father.

To further reinforce the son’s rejection of his father, the prodigal packs up and leaves for a distant country. Not only does he want his inheritance from his father, he wants to leave the family altogether and live life apart from the rest of the family.

So the younger son leaves and, “prodigals” it up, living life so large and fast that he ends up blowing through all the money. He ends up having to take a job working with pigs, a line of work which was unclean and unlawful for a Jewish person. 

Needless to say, things had gotten pretty bad for the prodigal son.

That’s when the prodigal thinks to himself, “Hey, my father’s servants had it so much better than I do! I should return home and seek to be a servant on my father’s property. That’s better than living with pigs! ”

The son’s intentions were not motivated by remorse, but rather an opportunity for a better life.

He was not driven to return to his father and the estate because he missed them. Remember, he abandoned his father and family. The prodigal believed that his sonship was ruined and there was no chance of restoration…so much so that it didn’t even cross his mind to return as his father’s child. 

Instead, with nothing to his name, he decides to travel home to beg for a chance to live on the estate as a servant, because, again even his father’s servants lived better than he was currently being treated. 

The prodigal believed this would be a hard bargain to sell, since what he had done in denouncing his father ,was not something he believed he’d ever be forgiven for, much less restored to full rights as his father’s child. He knew he had better put together a really good his sales pitch if his new scheme was going to work. 

Page 11 In his mind, the younger son must have been planning a speech to make his case, saying, “Father, I messed up. I have dishonored you. I threw your love away for quick cash. I turned my back on you and God, but I know you always need workers for the fields and for the lavish parties you throw, could you consider hiring me on as a servant?”  

“Yes, that will do,” he thought. “That might just be to able to persuade my father to allow me back.” 

So the prodigal son began his journey back to his father’s home.

As he walked home, barefoot and wearing, tattered garments muddy and stinking from the swine, he rehearsed exactly what he would say to his father so that he could get a job on his dad’s estate. 

Meanwhile, while the youngest son has been gone, the father has been waiting, hoping for his return.

The father found a vantage point to watch; a place where he could see travelers on the main road. Every day, he would spend his time looking, waiting, and hoping for his son to return home. 

And today is the day. Looking into the distance, the father knew that figure, the gate of this particular traveler’s walk. Before he can blink his eyes to check again, the father lept out of his seat and hurried to greet his lost son. 

Running in a full sprint, causing a commotion, knocking people out of the way, the father raced down the road toward his weary son. 

Approaching his son, the father didn’t say a word. There was no talking, only a massive bear hug, the biggest embrace you could imagine.

The prodigal son didn’t even had the opportunity to deliver the rehearsed speech he put together to persuade his father to hire him on as a servant before his father tackled him with love. 

As the father embraced his son in a hug, the prodigal son manages to squeak out a few rehearsed lines of his pitch.

But the father isn’t even listening. He’s too overwhelmed with joy and eager to take care of his lost son. 

The father calls out to the servants, “Get me my best robe! I need a ring for his finger! And my son needs some sandals for his feet! And grab the fattened calf we have been saving…because tonight, we celebrate my son, who was dead and now is alive.”

Wow, does this scene get you right in the gut like it does for me? 

This stuff just doesn’t happen in our world. This type of boldly unconditional love really isn’t seen or experienced. This is God’s love.

But before we look at that further, we really need to take note of how many absolutely shocking details there are in this story that reveal the Father’s love . 

First of all, we have to realize that the father was waiting and watching every day to see if his son would return.  This subtle detail is a profound clue into who the Father is and how steady and stable his love is for us.  Additionally, when the father sees his son off in the far distance, he takes off running. 

Running was not something honorable men did in antiquity. Running would have been seen as outlandish, certainly not a dignified action. 

In addition, the garb of the day was a long robe, and seeing that the Father undoubtedly had to pull up that robe in order to run, he would have had to expose his legs, another shameful thing act in that ancient culture. 

But the Father didn’t care about being shamed or foolish! Getting to his lost son as quickly as possible was of the utmost importance to him.

Additionally, before the prodigal son can even say anything, the father embraced him. It didn’t matter to the father what his son had done or why he was even there. 

What the father wanted his son to know is that he loved him, missed him, and he is welcomed.

That’s when the father immediately noticed the ragged condition of his son, and immediately began restoring him. 

His son needs a new garment, and the Father ordered the servants to get his best robe, signifying honor as depicted in the Old Testament in the story of the Pharaoh and Joseph (Genesis 41:42) and in Rebekah’s giving Esau’s robe to Jacob (Genesis 27:15).

The father also wanted to give more than what was needed to his son by bestowing a ring to the prodigal son. 

In ancient times, the ring of the Father would go to the eldest son at the time of the father’s death. Also rings were given as signifying authority as with Pharaoh and Joseph (Genesis 41:42). 

Then the father noticed his son’s feet, which indicated the prodigal son was barefoot. In giving sandals, it also signified bestowing freedom, since slaves of that time usually didn’t have shoes. 

Something else very interesting also happens with the sandals. The act of putting on the sandals shows the father serving the son, much like slaves did to their masters. Again, this is just another detail to illustrate how many of the customs and rules of the day the father abandoned in order to love and care for his son as quickly as possible. 

And to put the cherry on top of the sundae, The father indicated that a party needs to be thrown to celebrate. He orders the servants to kill the fattened calf, which was traditionally saved for a special event.

But for the father, this was the most special occasion there ever could be, for his son was dead, and now he is alive. 

The key to understanding all of this, to understanding the motivations of the father, can be found in a small phrase in verse 20 – “the Father was moved with compassion.”

The way we might understand human compassion might lead us to expect the father to allow his son to speak with him, repent and ask for forgiveness. Then, we’d expect time for the father to pray about what to do and, before allowing the son to come back on a probationary period, watching closely that he didn’t trip up or take for granted his liberties. 

But this story isn’t about a good earthly father or human love. It is about our Father God! This is how He is with all of us, giving unconditional love, unbelievable love.

There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38). 

No matter what we do, all we have to do is make our way back to God, and before we even return God meets us and celebrates just as he did with the prodigal son. 

This is God our Father. This is who loves you and is with you all moments of the day. This is who is on your side. The perfect Parent who always knows what is best and is filled with divine love for you.

But there’s more we can learn from this parable in the father’s  interaction with the older son. 

We learn from the story that while the prodigal son was doing outlandish and crude things, the older son, even though he too was given his inheritance, stayed and remained a loyal son to his father. 

He didn’t squander anything, but instead continued to work hard. 

The older son might have had to take on a double load of work because of his brother’s abandonment. So you can understand why this brother was livid when he found out that his wayward brother had return home and his status in the family was reinstated.

When the older brother realized there was a party going on and why he refused to come in and to take part of the celebration.

So the good father did what the good father does – he went out and tended to his eldest son, where he met a fiery exchange. 

In a heated monologue, the older son reminded his Father of his faithfulness, his respect and honor, and how he never once received a party for he and his friends. 

And in another twist, the father responds by saying in response, “My son, everything I have is yours and always has been. If you want a party, we will throw a party, if you need a break, take a break, if you want jewelry I’ll give you my jewelry, but tonight…oh tonight is for your brother!” 

The father’s response continued, “You see, my oldest son, your brother was gone forever. He was lost, dead, and buried. But a miracle has happened, he found his way home! He is now alive and we must celebrate.”

And with final notion, Jesus ends the parable. It’s up to the eldest son to decide if he will too accept the invitation of his Father’s endless, compassionate, and grace-filled love. 

It’s important to take note of this final story about the eldest son,  because as believers and followers of Jesus – the oldest child represents us. Perhaps at other points in our walk we were more like the prodigal son, living outside of God’s grace and love when we were not followers. But now we are children of God. 

The feast is ours and everything in it is available us. The Father is saying to each of us, “Will you step into your identity as my child and live in the land I have created and made for you?”

And it really is that simple! We have to accept the invitation… but not just once, or twice, but every single day, moment by moment. We have to choose to take God’s hand and enter the celebration that is going on all the time in the Kingdom of Heaven.

We do this by never losing sight of God, never forgetting what He says about us, over us. This is how God rewrites our script, especially when the world speaks ill, hurtful things to us. 

One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn as a follower of Christ, as a child of God, is that the only thing that truly matters is what God says of me, not others. 

I am still on my journey of allowing God’s voice, truth, and love speak over me, as sometimes the actions and words of others can be very hurtful. 

But I must choose to believe what God says over me above all else, especially when the people attack my worth or identity. And it happens to all of us, it is especially hard for a lot of us women. 

When things like these happen, I run to my Father’s arms. I implore Him to speak truth over me, and mend my hurting heart. And the more I do this, the quicker the results are, and the faster I am rerooted in His truth about who He says I am. 

And that’s where I leave you in this study. We have gone over a lot about our good Father. His love is unstoppable, His truth is freeing, His compassion -well it knocks you over.

The father in the parable is the Father that has so much in store for you, more than you or I can imagine. The more we acknowledge and accept His embrace the more we bask in the goodness of His love. 

Whether you had good or not-so-good earthly parents, this fact remains God the Father is so much more. For He is a good, good Father!

Making It Stick

Optional Extended Reading:  

-Read some of Jesus’ other teachings about His relationship with His Father in John 17; Matthew 26:39, 42, 53; Luke 23:34, 46.

Processing Questions – Answer In Your Own Words

• What is the lens through which we first understand parenthood? (P.3)
• Why does everyone need to focus on a better understanding of God as our Father? (P.4)
• How is God as our Father different than human parents? (P.5)
• How does a person become a child of God? (P.6)
• What were some of the ways Jesus relied on His Father? (P.7)
• What were the implications of the prodigal son asking for his inheritance early and leaving the country? (P.9)
• What was the prodigal son’s thoughts about what would happen upon his return home? (P.10)
• What had the father been doing the entire time his son was gone? (P.11)
• What detail about the father’s actions and acceptance of his returned son are most surprising to you? (P.12-15)
• As disciples, which of the two sons represents us, and what are the implications for our lives? (P.16)
• And what does all of this mean for you and your relationship with God?

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Your identity in christ: how god sees you.

• God's Will , Identity in Christ , Identity

Our culture is very interested in the journey of discovering individual identity. Personality tests and dream assessments are available everywhere you look. It seems like everyone is searching for something to tell them who they are, where they belong and how they relate to the world.

The Bible says that all men and women are created in God’s image. Humankind was created to reflect some of God’s attributes. You can look for your identity anywhere, but followers of Jesus are called to find their identity in Him.

Where Do You Find Your Identity?

While our world encourages you to look within yourself for your identity, your natural tendency is to search for your identity in external things. 

One of the first places that you can be tempted to look to is your career. Spending your time and energy pursuing your career can cause you to feel like it is a defining characteristic of who you are. After all, a job that you are dedicated to is likely to take up most of your time and attention. 

Jobs and careers are closely connected to other places where you can search for your identity, such as financial success and status. But it doesn’t stop there. People also ask their relationship statuses, appearance, grades and reputation to provide a sense of identity.

Any or all of these may feel like solid foundations, but none of them are permanent. Any of them could change without warning. If you base your identity on things like success, wealth, power, physical appearance and so on,  you are setting yourself up for great disappointment. A sudden job loss could leave you questioning your choices in life. One piece of gossip aimed your way could destroy your reputation, even if it is untrue. Your appearance will change as you get older.

God, however, is unchanging. He is reliable. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. If you find your identity in Him, you will never ultimately be let down because He has proven time and time again to be trustworthy. 

It is important, as you define your identity, that God not be just an aspect of who you are, like “I am a Christian,” or ”I am religious,” or “I am spiritual”.  Understanding your identity in God starts with understanding who He is, what He says about Himself, and what He says about you. Your identity can be defined by who God is making you to be in His image.  

How God Sees His Children

To be able to understand your identity as a follower of Christ, you need to understand how He sees you. It’s tempting to build your identity on what you accomplish, but this is not a stable foundation.

Your true identity is ultimately based on what God has done for you. In the Bible, God tells us often about how He views His people. Let’s take a look at what He says about you, if you received Him as your Lord and Savior. (Learn how to have a personal relationship with God and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.)  

You Are Loved

In Christ, you are loved. You were created with a purpose. You are not just a convenient carbon copy of someone else. You were created uniquely and with intention. God lovingly designed every detail of your person. Can you imagine the love involved with that intricate design?  

You Are Chosen

In Christ, you are not only loved but chosen. God sent His own Son to earth to die in your place so that you could be included in His family . 

God was not obligated to choose you based on your performance or credentials. He chose to carry out an intricate plan that involved the death of His own perfect Son, which allowed you the opportunity to be a child of God.

You are no mistake. You are chosen and wanted.  

You Are Forgiven

In order to be counted a child of the perfect Father, you had to be free of sin — that is, you had to be perfect with regard to doing right and not doing wrong. That is a tall order considering no one but Jesus was or is perfect and no one can attain perfection by their own effort. 

However, because Jesus, who was without sin, died the death you should have on the cross, you can be forgiven of sin. What you’ve done wrong is not counted against you, and all that Christ did right is counted for you. This forgiveness allows you to be considered a child of God. 

Therefore, in God’s eyes, if you have accepted what Jesus did for you, you are completely forgiven. From His perspective, you are without sin. It’s not that you won’t sin, but when He looks at you, He calls you forgiven. That is something on which you can build your identity.   

You Are Redeemed

What does your forgiveness mean? You are redeemed — that is, Christ’s sacrifice has bought you back from the forces of sin and evil that once owned and controlled you and made you His.

When God looks at you, He does not see a former sinner. He does not see you in light of who you once were. He sees you as redeemed: a new creation that has been made whole. 

You do not have to define yourself in light of your past mistakes. God does not do that. You can walk in the identity of someone who is made new in Christ.  

You Are Adopted

What does it mean to be considered a child of God? It means that you have been adopted into His family. You are considered a legitimate child of the God of the universe, having all the rights and standing of Jesus His Son. 

God sees you as a cherished child who bears His name. Just as earthly adoption is a legally binding process that names you a permanent part of a family, heavenly adoption is just as permanent and binding. You are His child, and He will never take that away.

What the Bible Says About Identity in Christ

You don’t have to take anyone’s word for it. Actually, God wants you to find out for yourself by reading His Word. It is so important that you go to the Bible to find out how He feels about you. Your identity should never be based on a hope or a guess. God gave us His Word, the Bible, so you can know Him and know who He is making you to be in Him.

“You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.” (Ephesians 2:19, New International Version)

You are a member of His household, not a stranger. If you follow Christ, you belong in God’s household and with His people.

In this passage, Paul is encouraging followers of Christ to remember that they are all part of one family. They are to be unified with each other.  This can only happen if you understand that you are a legitimate child of God. You are part of His family.    

“God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV)

As a child of God, you are blessed and provided for. God is able to provide you with everything you need in Christ. He is the Owner of everything and the Giver of all good things.   

“See what great 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.” (1 John 3:1, NIV)

In Christ, you are loved. Your identity is a child of God. This Bible verse comes from a chapter that warns against the temptation to stray from God into sin. You can resist sin by remembering that God has the best for His children. He offers you more than the world ever could. You are complete in His love.  

“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV)

Jesus delights in you. You are not just accepted or put up with. You are welcomed into His family with delight.

When correction comes, it lasts for a short time because the goal is for it to help you reflect God’s holy character more accurately. He delights in you so much that He is making you more like Himself day by day.  

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV)

You are God’s righteousness. You are His goodness and rightness because of what Christ did on the cross. This was given to you, and you are called righteous by the Lord of the universe.

You can live in light of the righteousness you were given. It not only allows you to approach God with confidence, but it allows you to be an ambassador to others around you. Because your righteousness is not earned but freely given through faith in Jesus , you can share this gift with others and invite them to be God’s righteousness too.   

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13, NIV)

You are forgiven. If you are a follower of Christ, you have become God’s child because the Lord forgave you for the sin you committed against Him.

As someone who is forgiven, you can now freely forgive others. God extended grace — that is, undeserved favor — to you. You can extend that grace to others around you.   

“We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)

You were created with a purpose. God had specific intentions for your life when He brought you into the world. First and foremost, your purpose is to know Him and glorify Him. Then you can engage in other good works that will bring God glory and grow your own faith.

You were saved from great sin. Now, as a child of God, you can walk with God and do great good through His work in you.  

“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

In Christ, you are a new creation. God has made you new. The old things that used to define you have been taken away. God used to identify you as an enemy, but now he knows you as a child. You who were a sinner are now righteous.

You are new because through Jesus your sin has been paid for. You have been restored in right standing before God.   

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9, NIV) You are special to God. You are chosen by Him. This verse comes from a passage that talks about how Christ was rejected by many. But by faith in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, if you trust in Jesus, you are part of His holy, chosen people. You can rid yourself of things that are part of the old you, part of the darkness, such as deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander because you have been brought into wonderful light.

Obstacles to Believing in Your Identity

Even if you know all these things about where a follower of Christ finds their identity, there can often be obstacles standing in the way of believing who you are in Christ. Other sources of identity often stand in the way, such as career, appearance or money. But there are other things that can distract you as well.  

Everyone has made mistakes. Everyone has sinned. If you accept Christ, God forgives you of these things.  

Psalm 103:12 (NIV) says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Transgression is another word for sin or mistakes. God removes your sin from you. You will still often remember your sins, and those memories can make you feel unworthy, keeping you from accepting your true identity.  

Outside Messages or Experiences

You might not just remember what you have done; you may also remember what people have done to you. Maybe you were treated poorly or neglected. Maybe people told you negative things about yourself.  

The world is broken by sin. There are people who have experienced unspeakable injustice. From gossip to verbal and physical abuse, outside messages are trying to shape your identity every day. Those outside messages can lead you to believe that you are unworthy of what the Bible says is true of you in Christ.  

False Beliefs

As you follow Jesus, you will seek to know Him more. You can do this through time in the Word, through prayer, through talking with friends or a mentor and through gathering together with other believers in worship.

As your understanding of God grows, you may recognize flawed beliefs that you held before that do not line up with what you are hearing and learning about your identity now. 

Maybe you grew up learning that you can lose your salvation. Maybe you thought that there were certain behaviors or sins that disqualify you from receiving Christ’s salvation. There are many false beliefs out there that seem correct but really take away from who God is and what He says. It can be confusing to work through these differences.  

How Can You Respond?

These obstacles are difficult to navigate. It’s easy to believe that these things are legitimate barriers to following Jesus. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can overcome these obstacles and live fully in the identity that you were given in Jesus.  

The word “repent” means that you agree with God. So the first thing you can do to embrace your identity is to agree with Him that you are believing things that are no longer true of you. 

Bring the things you are struggling with to Him. Admit that they are difficult for you to overcome. Confess that you believe Him when He says that they are no longer true of you.  

Many places in scripture encourage believers of Jesus to mourn over their sin. Although your sin no longer defines your identity, you do still experience its effects in your life. Therefore, it is legitimate and even important to grieve the sin that keeps you from truly believing the things Jesus says. 

You can also grieve the sins that were committed against you and all that those wounds cost you. You can grieve the effect that it had on your relationship with the Lord. 

Paul was one of the leaders of the early church who helped write the Bible’s New Testament. In a letter to one church, which we now know as the Bible’s book of 1 Thessalonians, he talks about how to mourn for lost loved ones. He helps us to understand how we can grieve well.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, NIV).

In this passage, “those who sleep in death” is referring to followers of Jesus who have passed away. Paul says that we can grieve that they are no longer here and yet have hope that in Jesus they live in eternity.

The same principle applies to grief over sin. You can grieve your own sin and the sin of others, all the while knowing that you have hope in Christ. You are a new creation. You are forgiven and restored in Jesus.  

Invite the Lord to Change Your Mind

When you have confessed and grieved these things, you can ask God to help you believe what is true . He is the one who renews your mind and changes your heart.

God is the one who grows your faith and makes you new. Ask Him to help you believe the things that He says of you.  Ask Him to continue to make you into the person that He intends you to be in Jesus. 

He is faithful, and He will do it.  

Invite Others to Help You

God never meant for you to walk with Jesus on your own. He brings people into your life so that you can encourage one another.

When you are struggling with past sin or false and discouraging beliefs, share that struggle with a trusted friend. Inviting others to pray for you and remind you of the truth can be so beneficial.

A believer that is farther along on their faith journey can provide great insight to you as you walk with Jesus. Consider inviting a fellow believer to mentor you in areas that are a struggle for you.

When Christ followers bear one another’s burdens, they not only grow closer to the Lord, but they grow in unity with other Christ followers.

Seeing Yourself as God Sees You Matters

If you put your faith in Jesus, you have a new identity in Him. The more you get to know Jesus through His word and time in prayer, the more you will understand your identity in Him.

The more you get to know Jesus, the more you will be able to identify areas of your life that you are not living in this identity by the power of the Holy Spirit .

If you believed that you were all that God says you are in Christ, how would that change the way you lived, the way you interact with others, or the way that you relate to the Lord? 

As you find your identity in Christ, you will grow to look more like Him and less like the world. You will grow in intimacy with Him and with other believers.  

Where Do I Go From Here?

To learn more about finding your identity in Christ, go through the exercise described in “ How to Discover Your True Identity ."  

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5 Truths to Embrace about Your Identity as a Child of God

You were designed to represent God and act on his behalf in this world. You were created to display God's character and nature to the world in desperate need of him.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over every living creature that moves on the ground…So, in the image of God, he created them; male and female, he created them. God blessed them….“— Genesis 1:26 , 27, 28 (NIV)

You were created in God’s image. 

In the Ancient Near East, it was believed that images contained the essence of that which they represented. In fact, ancient kings would put images of themselves in places in order to claim their territory, control, and rule in those places. 

So, the fact that you were created in the image of God means that you are meant to bear God’s essence wherever he has placed you. 

You were created in God’s likeness.

We typically think of the terms “image” and “likeness” as the same thing. But image  typically means essence—God’s character. Likenes s means a physical similarity. In other words, somehow, you look like God! Isn’t that an incredible thought? Before you did anything right or good before you were even born, 

God designed you to resemble him. That should give you a sense of great dignity.

You are not a mistake. You are not an afterthought. In fact, it’s been said that a great work of art is a masterpiece when the artist puts herself in the art. In the same way, you are a masterpiece of God’s own making.

You were created with purpose.

Have you ever noticed that everything God made was for a purpose? The sun, moon, and stars were created to light the skies and govern the days and nights. The land was created to produce vegetation, and those plants were created to bear fruit. Even water was created with a purpose—to keep us alive and to teem with living creatures. Similarly, you were created with a specific purpose in mind. If you don’t yet know your purpose, God is not trying to hide that from you. Ask him for help and guidance. Ask your community what they think your purpose might be. And start living on purpose, with purpose, and for a purpose.

You were created with goodness and blessing.

When God created man and women, he spoke a blessing of goodness over them. Don’t ever believe the lie that God is withholding goodness from you or that you have to pry blessing from his hands. He pronounces blessing and favor freely and abundantly over all who call upon the name of Jesus . So spend time with him, enjoy him, and live on a mission for him. You will find that his goodness and blessing are yours in Christ .  

You were named by God. 

What’s also implied in the above verses is what God creates, he names . Genesis 5:2 reminds us that God  named humankind when he made us. And throughout scripture, we see God naming or renaming his creation. In the ancient world, a person's name was wrapped up with distinguishing characteristics about them or who they would become. Also, to name something meant you had authority over their destiny. As a follower of Jesus, 

God is your Namer—which means that even when the world tries to tear you down, you have been irrevocably named God’s own. 

God has named you, which means he declares his unique authority over your life, his good and perfect plan for you, and his power to make all things work for your good. Worship him today.

Hold your head high, child of God. Walk tall. You were created with such wonder.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/RyanJLane

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How You Can Know You’re a Child of God

The church at brook hills | birmingham, alabama.

John Piper Twitter @JohnPiper

The christian’s new desires, an apostle by command, seven encouragements for parents of prodigals, christlike kindness, the christian’s new speech, toward need, not comfort.

• Scripture: Romans 8:12–18    Topic: Assurance of Salvation

My goal is to help you who are borne of God know that you are children of God — know it beyond a shadow of a doubt, feel it in your bones, and thus walk in confidence, and boldness. “I am a child of God” — to be able to say that to yourself, to God, and to others with confidence. And not say when somebody says, “Are you a Christian?” I hope so .

I want, from the word, by the Spirit, to be an instrument in giving you the assurance of your salvation. That’s the aim.

Struggles with Doubt

Why would I talk about that? In my experience of 33 years at Bethlehem, it probably was the most common thing I prayed with people about after church. People would be unsure, and they wanted to be sure, so that’s the first reason.

I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, in a Southern Baptist Church, and that was marked, I would say, by a vague handling of the word of God — vague in the sense that I felt like mainly I was hearing generalization about texts, rather than specificities about texts, not details about texts.

And what I’ve come to see is that where a church is fed on generalizations, and non-specificities — that the pastor kind of hovers over the text, and you never kind of land on words, and phrases, and how they connect — this hovering above the text creates uncertainty. It creates vague faith. It creates generalized faith. It creates weak faith.

People talk in generalities. Nothing’s ever quite rooted. We can’t say, “There it is. There it is. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s right there.” I do not want to be that this morning. I don’t want to treat this doctrine, and this hugely emotional, critical, existential issue of, Am I going to heaven or not? with generalizations. My aim is to show you words, phrases, and logic from the inspired apostle Paul, from which you can draw out solid conviction concerning how the Holy Spirit witnesses that you are a child of God.

In my context growing up, they mainly emphasize getting people saved, not helping people know what it means to be saved. and not how to appropriate the glorious riches, that are here in the Scriptures, for knowing, feeling, and enjoying God. That was very sad, and I’m so thankful that your pastor didn’t do that.

The Spirit’s Path to Assurance

Then in the text, if you’re confident that you’re a child of God, you have an inheritance. I want to talk about the inheritance because I think that is included here to buttress and give incentive to the thrill of being a child of God. “If children, then heirs,” and I think Paul wants to open the inheritance to you, so that your confidence, and your thrill, and your boldness as a child of God would be deepened and heightened.

“If you’re led by the Spirit, you’re a child of God.”

And then Paul adds, “provided we suffer with him, in order that we may be also be glorified with him.” If somewhere you have been taught that to be a child of God is to have a great inheritance, and that you don’t have to walk through sufferings to get there, you’re going to come into crisis, because the text says you only get there through suffering. That’s what the text says.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

First, let’s look at Romans 8:9:

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

So, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that everyone in this room who belongs to Jesus has the Holy Spirit. That’s what Romans 8:9 says. I know who I’m talking to. I want to talk to those people. Those of you who don’t have the Holy Spirit — that is, who do not yet belong to Jesus — should listen because the way God saves people, and draws them into Christ, and puts the Holy Spirit in them, is by hearing the gospel. Faith comes by hearing, and so I’m eager for everybody to listen.

My aim is to talk to those who have the Holy Spirit, and thus belong to Jesus, and open for you what he does in Romans 8:16.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Clearly, he wants you to know — to have assurance. Woe to those religions that keep their people off balance, to manipulate them with fear. He wants to know . He wants you to be congregation full of people rock-solid and ready to die for Jesus because they know . That’s why you have the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God,” and my question is, How does he do it?

Two Ways the Spirit Assures

My guess is that the how of the Holy Spirit’s working, ensuring the children of God that they are his own his richer, fuller, and deeper than we can imagine. But my job is not to just imagine. My job is to point to the text’s answer as to how he does it, and I see two things in this text that explain how he does it. And as I show you those, you should be asking, Are those happening in my life?

Kill Sin by the Spirit

The first way is seen in the connection between verses 13 and 14. Romans 8:13: “If you live according to the flesh” — if your life is keying off of the non-spirit, the non-God, just the impulses that come naturally, apart from the Holy Spirit, apart from the word of God — “you will die” — you will perish, you will go to hell. Alternatively, “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Let’s make sure we understand the two halves now. You’ve got the Holy Spirit, enabling you to make war on your sinful impulses, and if you are making war on them and sending death blows at your sinful impulses, by the Spirit — not legalistically — then the other half is you’re going to live.

Led by the Spirit

Then Paul gives a reason in Romans 8:14: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.” That is how the Holy Spirit shows me I’m a child of God. It says, “Everybody who is led by the Spirit is a child of God.” Now I know how I can know if I’m a child of God: Am I being led by the Spirit? If I’m being led by the Spirit, I’m a child of God. That’s what it says.

“To know you’re a Christian, you have to know how bad you are.”

Does it mean being led to marry the right person? Being led to go to the right school? Being led to have the right job? Being led to witness to somebody this afternoon? No , it doesn’t mean that. How do I know that? Because the for at the beginning of the verse connects it to the preceding verse, and makes it a ground of, “if you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, you will live.” Because if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re a child of God.

That’s not readily obvious how that works. It wasn’t to me, anyway. How does that because or that for at the beginning of verse 14 work to support verse 13? How does that work? That’s the essence of Bible reading. I’m so thankful for Mrs. Adams in the seventh grade. All we did was diagram sentences. I learned everything I know about the English language in the seventh grade. That’s an overstatement, but I feel deep gratitude that I’m now enjoying the assurance of my salvation, partly because of Mrs. Adams’s sentence diagramming.

I totally mean that, and will write a book next February to support it. That’s the plan, anyway. Because if I don’t understand how the for at the beginning of verse 14 works, I won’t know what it means to be led by the Spirit, and thus enjoy the assurance that I’m a child of God.

Evil Deeds Are Dead

If you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, you will live because all who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. For that to work as an argument, it must mean the reason you will live is because you’re being led, and if you’re led, you’re a child of God, and the children of God don’t die and go to hell. They go to heaven. They live. If you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, you’ll live because those who are led by the Spirit are children of God, and they don’t die. They live . And therefore, what does leading mean? It means led into war with sin.

Are you with me? I just made a huge conclusion. It shapes everything about how I understand this. If you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit , you will live because those who are led into war on their sin — by the Spirit — are children, and children live. That’s how the logic works. So now I know what leading means in verse 14. It’s not about whom you marry. That’s nowhere near the context here. The context is, if you are led by the Spirit, you make war on your sin. One of the beautiful, deep, rich, wonderful evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God is that you hate your sin and make war on it.

And notice how I’m saying it: I am not telling you that you need any particular level of success. I checked again in the Greek this morning. These are present tenses, meaning ongoing, continuous action. If you live according to the flesh, you’ll die. If you stay in sin, just settle in there, make peace with your flesh, live according to the devil, you’re going to go to hell. But if by the Spirit you are continually putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live forever because those who are led to do that are the children of God.

What does a witness do? He gives evidence. He might have been there at the crime scene, and say, “I saw it,” or he might be some expert in DNA, and he’s testifying in the courtroom and the jury is supposed to put all that together. The Holy Spirit is giving evidences that you are a child of God, and the first evidence I’m pointing to is: you make war on your sin.

Fight Your Own Battle

Notice I’m not saying you make war on other people’s sin. I don’t mean you saying, “What’s happened to America? I hate all this liberal stuff that’s going on in America. And I know I’m a Christian because I got my back up about this.” Not necessarily. You better get your back up about your attitude toward your wife. You better get your back up about your sloth as a dad. You better get your back up about your lust, and your pornography, and about your lying, and about your cheating, and you better be your issue.

The mark of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, showing you’re a child of God is: Do you hate your sin more than you hate other people’s sin? This is not hard. John Piper looks in the mirror, and I know I’m a sinner. Praise God, I hate that sight. It’s horrible and wonderful at the same time. To know you’re a Christian, you have to know how bad you are, and hate it, and turn, and by the Spirit, make war on your sin. The Spirit bears witness that we are the children of God by leading us into war, killing on our sin, our own sin, and thus a clear mark that rises up in my heart and testifies to me: You’re saved. You hate your sin, and are taking steps to kill it.

Of course, if you love your sin, have no intention of making war on it, you don’t have any assurance. I’m not going to make this easy. This is reality. We’re talking about reality here. In a sense that’s the easiest thing in the world, to know I’m a bad person. It’s easy to know how horrible you are. It’s if you are willing.

Cry “Abba! Father!”

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

The Spirit leads us to kill and our sin, and he leads us to cry, “Abba! Father!” Now I’m going to ask, *Do you find, daily, regularly, welling up from deep in your soul, a cry, “Abba, Father”? Then you’re a Christian. That’s the Holy Spirit talking, to which skeptics should respond, and I’m one, you can program a computer to say, “Abba, Father.” What kind of evidence is that? Don’t mock the Bible, but do ask serious questions. If you don’t understand it, ask.

Not Just Verbal

There are two clues for me here, why this doesn’t mean the mere ability to verbalize those words. Clue number one is the word Abba . Paul could have just said Father . Why put that Aramaic, tender, intimate, sweet, daddy-like word at the front of the word Father? Why do that? Because that’s what he means for you to know in your heart. Do you know that? In other words, is that what’s coming up?

“With Christ, we will inherit the earth, and we will get God himself.”

The second clue is the word cry . He could have said say . You can’t program a computer to cry. I think the word cry is intended to carry an emotional authenticity, depth, sincerity, and earnestness. Does there rise up from within you an earnest, sincere, intense longing, expression, not just to some vague father figure, but to: Daddy, I need you. I love you. Help me.

Imagine you have a thirty-year-old son, who’s left the home, left the faith, left everything, — prodigal-like —and he’s dying of cancer. You haven’t seen him for ten years, and you hear about it, and you go to see him. You walk in the hospital room, and he opens his eyes and says, “Daddy, I’m sorry.” That’s what we’re talking about. That’s the Holy Spirit. Has that ever happened to you? “I need a Father. You, through Jesus Christ, have opened your heart to me, and I am finding everything in me rising up and saying, “Abba, Father.” Only Christians experience that.

Authentic, Earnest Cry

Here’s another illustration to show you that that’s the way Paul’s thinking. First Corinthians 12:3:

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

That’s just another example of the very same kind of witness of the Holy Spirit. No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. No one can say earnestly, intensely, authentically, from the heart, “Jesus is my Lord.” It’s the same thing as saying, “I hate my sin. Join me in war, Master Jesus.” Those are my two answers. How does the Holy Spirit bear witness in your life, that you are the child of God?

He leads you. All who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. Contextually, what is the leadership referring to? It’s referring to verse 13 because of the connector for , and the thing that is referred to in verse 13 is by the Spirit we are making war. We are putting to death the deeds of the body. Therefore, you can know you’re a child of God if you hate your sin and make war on it.

The Spirit testifies with our spirit we’re children of God by welling up, and crying, “Abba! Father! You’re my father. I need you. I love you. I depend on you. What would I do without you?”

That’s how we know we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ.

What Will We Inherit?

Children of God, what are you going to inherit? Do you have a clear sense of your inheritance? Let me tell you three things you’re going to inherit, and as you hear them, let them entice you out of sin, and out of indifference to the fatherhood of God, into hatred of sin, and an intense cry to God as your Father.

Win the World

You are going to inherit the world. Romans 4:13:

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

And then we need to read that alongside Galatians 3:29:

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

This is called putting the pieces together, right? If you belong to Jesus, you are Abraham’s offspring because you’re united to Christ, who is the offspring. And therefore, you get the inheritance Abraham gets, and it’s the world.

One of the reasons I don’t like the prosperity gospel is because it just gets the timing wrong. They say you should get the world now, and I say, later. Your best life later. Suffering now, the world at the resurrection. First Corinthians 3:21–23:

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

All things belong to you, Christians. Christians need to take a deep breath and believe the impossible. You walk through life here in Alabama, and everything feels so absolutely ordinary. You feel really ordinary (and you are) but ordinary people indwelt by the Spirit, and united to Christ, are going to be heirs, are heirs of everything.

You’ll own Alabama, Russia, Australia. Where would you like to go? Name it and it’s yours. You don’t need to grasp it, crave it, claw to have, and have, and have. You know that message in this church, but oh, that you would feel the unspeakable wonder of this inheritance because it will make you enjoy being a child of God, and it will heighten and deepen your boldness, and your readiness to speak and suffer.

Second, God is your inheritance. Romans Chapter 5:2:

We exult in the hope of the glory of God.

If you want to have an inheritance that is minus all tears, minus all disease, and minus all frustrations, and minus God, you’re not a Christian. God will be in this world, making the world what it is, and the world will be a means of enjoying God, and God will make the world enjoyable without idolatry. He’s the key to everything, and so it says in 5:2, “We exult in the hope of the glory of God.

And if you say, “Well, maybe the glory of God and God are different things, and so it’s really glory and not God that is our inheritance,” I just say that we keep reading down to Romans 5:11 and other texts:

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3) Whom have I in heaven but you?    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail,    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25)

With Christ, we will inherit the earth, and we will get God himself as the capstone of all our pleasures. Even though sin tells you that you find most pleasure in stuff, you don’t. You are a personal soul, and persons and relationships are where you find most deep satisfaction. God is that person for which we are made to enjoy.

Receive Resurrected Bodies

And the third and last thing I’ll mention about the inheritance is that you will have, as part of your inheritance, a glorified body. I’m looking to the near context of Romans for these inheritances, and just a few verses down in Romans 8:23 we read,

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

That’s why I’m not a prosperity, health and wealth person. I’m waiting for that future reality. I’m waiting. At 69 years old, the waiting gets more intense, right? It’s just physically downhill from here. Doesn’t matter how much I jog, how far I bike, it’s downhill.

“Right now, every enjoyment I have on the earth tempts me to be an idolater.”

I read again this morning that the body “is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power (1 Corinthians 15:43). Visit a nursing home if you’re naïve, all right? It makes you want to say, “God, these are your children.” And he says, “I know they’re my children. And in just a few days, they’ll be in glory with a new body” — a new body that according to Jesus, will shine so bright like the sun, we will be tempted to worship those old ladies in the nursing home. Yes, we will. They will shine with such queenlike brightness in the kingdom with their new bodies someday that we will marvel. And by the way, they will remember your visits, and thank you.

Those are my three descriptions of the inheritance. You’re going to get the world. You’re going to get God, and you’re going to get a glorified body. And when I say it’s glorified, I mean that it is made a spiritual body and a glorious body, so that God can be fully enjoyed, and the world can be fully enjoyed, without compromising God being fully enjoyed. Right now, every enjoyment I have on the earth tempts me to be an idolater, right? I could prefer sex over God, money over God, pizza over God, Diet Coke over God. Everything is a threatening idol. That won’t be true anymore.

There’s no idolatry in the kingdom, not even the slightest temptation toward it. Every bite you take will be worship. Eat up! But you need a new body for that, new brains, new eyes, new ears, new everything. You’re going to be remade for that. That is the inheritance.

Suffer with Him

And if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:17)

What does that mean? Let’s look at a few other texts to help us.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

So, if you want to follow Jesus, it involves cross-bearing.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12) “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:6–7) But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13)

So, is Paul saying I have to get some persecution to go to heaven? Then I could say to you, when you leave here, just make sure you go find somebody to treat you badly. If you get treated badly this afternoon, you sleep well tonight, because you can know you’re a Christian.”

I don’t think that’s the way Paul’s thinking. I don’t. I don’t think a strategy for assurance is to seek out persecution. The text might look like that. If you suffer with him, you will be glorified with him, and if the suffering means persecution, you got to get some, or you can’t be glorified. Here’s why I don’t think he’s thinking that way. Because the next verse says,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

So the question is, What’s that? That’s the same suffering as Verse 17, right? He didn’t just start over again. What are those? To get that answer, you just read the paragraph.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19–23)

That’s not persecution. That’s the rotting of John Piper’s body. That’s kidney failure. That’s loss of eyesight. That’s loss of hearing. That’s the degradation of the glorious creation because of the fall. Then you get to the part about groaning in our bodies, waiting for our adoption. When Paul says, “Provided we suffer with him,” the emphasis falls on with him . Everybody’s going to suffer. Are you willing to stay with Jesus through all your suffering?

“I love him because he loves me — far more than I love myself.”

You’re going to suffer, folks. Period . I don’t care how rich you are. You can’t run from it. You’re going to suffer. The question is: Will you do it with him? Will all your suffering be sanctified by the conscious confidence: “This, for me, is discipline from my Father, to knock all the props of self-reliance out from under my life, so that I lean wholly on him.”

That was my answer to the question, Why would he do this? Why would he make suffering the necessary path to the inheritance? Here’s the reason: because if we fallen people were not brought into trial, after trial, after trial, I would fall ever more deeply in love with the eases, and comforts, and prosperity, and delights physically of my life, and forget God. That’s why. He knows us. He’s a Father. He disciplines all of his children. He knows a therapy that you need in order to make it to the inheritance, and the therapy is different for everybody.

John Piper’s suffering regimen is different from yours. I don’t like mine, but I do not get angry at my God. I have a doctor who must break my leg to save me, or amputate it, because it’s got cancer, and I love my surgeon. I love him because he loves me — far more than I love myself.

So yes, if we suffer with him , if we don’t shake our fist in his face and say, “I’m out of here if this is the way you treat your children. I’m out of here.” If you say that, you’re gone. It’s over. But if you say, “Father, Daddy, I hate my sin more than I hate losing these pleasures. Have at me, Daddy. Surgeon, Daddy.” Then you can know .

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What does the Bible say about me as a child of God?

As a child of God, it’s important to understand what the Bible says about your identity and relationship with God. The Bible is filled with passages that describe the love and care that God has for His children, and the unique privileges and responsibilities that come with being part of His family.

One of the most important aspects of being a child of God is that we have been adopted into His family through faith in Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 1:5, Paul writes, “He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” This means that we have been chosen and welcomed into God’s family, and we have the same rights and privileges as His biological children.

One of the greatest privileges of being a child of God is that we have direct access to Him through prayer. In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” This means that we can come to God with our needs and desires, and He will listen to us and provide for us according to His perfect will.

Another important aspect of being a child of God is that we are called to live a life of holiness and obedience to God’s commands. In 1 Peter 1:15-16, Peter writes, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.'” This means that we are called to live in a way that reflects God’s character and values, and to follow His commands out of love and gratitude for all that He has done for us.

Finally, as children of God, we have the assurance that nothing can separate us from God’s love. In Romans 8:38-39, Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This means that no matter what happens in our lives, we can be confident that God loves us and will always be with us.

In conclusion, the Bible teaches us that as children of God, we are loved, chosen, and adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ. We have the privilege of direct access to God through prayer, and we are called to live a life of holiness and obedience to His commands. Most importantly, we have the assurance that nothing can separate us from God’s love. As we seek to live out our identity as children of God, may we always remember the incredible privilege and responsibility that comes with being part of His family.

Bible Verses about Children – What Jesus Said about the blessing of kids, protecting children, and Gods teaching about children in the Scripture

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I Am A Child Of God Series

Contributed by brad bailey on may 9, 2017 (message contributor).

Scripture: Galatians 4:7 , Romans 8:14-17 , Genesis 1:26 , 1 John 3:1 , John 1:12-13

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Summary: Finding our identity as a child of God.

“I Am a Child of God”

Series: Identity: Becoming Who We Are

May 7, 2017 – Brad Bailey

Last week… we began looking at the way we search for identity… for knowing who we are. Identity is the answer to the question… “Who are you?”

A common way we think about our identity… is to think of what we identify with… and what we identify with… generally comes in phases in our life.

My identity changed depending on what I was most into…

Hippie… still close to heart.. as is

Surfing…most of my life until 30’s was spent at the beach and ocean

I have identified myself with each of these areas of interest and lifestyle.

In some ways…they were a PART of who I was and am… but they are not the essence of who I am.

These aspects can serve as distinguishing us…but not as defining us.

They can help us find some social fit…but not our ultimate nature and worth.

Similarly …you may be an employee… sibling… parent… spouse… volunteer. Those may serves as roles we play…but they are not the root of who we are.

Imagine if there was no one else around you… anywhere… and consider if those secondary elements provide much meaning.

The answer to “who we are” must ultimately be rooted in something that is durable something that doesn’t change.

Who you are is not defined by age or stage in life…it is about your source.

1 John 3:1 (NIRV) – “See what amazing love the Father has given us! Because of it, we are called children of God. And that’s what we really are!”

It is what we ARE…not just what we try to be… but what we ARE through Christ.

John 1:12-13 (NLT)

“[Christ] gave the right to become children of God… a birth that comes from God.”

BORN of God…

Your core identity is BIRTHED, not BUILT.

Jesus came to reconcile and restore human life… the central identity of being a child of God… of being rooted in God as Father and His eternal love.

He came to restore our true identity… the identity out of which he lived when he came into this world.

Nothing in this world could change who he was.

Christ was known as carpenter... healer... teacher... even savior. But his identity... was that of being loved by his father – who had declared over him: “this is my son... whom I love.” That is what he lived his life out of.

In this world he was popular…and rejected…and it didn’t change who he was.

This world could love him…or hate him… and it didn’t change who he was.

There would be elements of understanding and joining him…and elements of misunderstanding him and abandoning him… and it didn’t change who he was.

He lived out of the depth of knowing he was bound to God the Father…

This is what he come to restore in us. [1a]

Now ‘Child’ may not sound good if you are emerging out of childhood… ready to stop being ‘just a child’…

Being a child of God is not about age or stage in life…it is about your source.

Who you are is ultimately defined by the nature of who you came from.

And the Scriptures begin with God providing a poetic summary of his creating…and culminates in His declaring…

Genesis 1:26 (NIV)

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”

1. I was CREATED to be a child of God… to bear the nature of God.

To consider that we were created to bear God’s image…nature…in some unique way…is not to diminish any other aspect of creation. In fact… it affirms that there is something sacred in all of creation.

The whole created realm…universe…universes are created by God.

All reflect His glory…His goodness.

Every facet of the cosmos… and every creature is sacred….created by God.

But into that biological life… one is given God’s unique image to bear…given His eternal spirit.

It means that whatever the process by which we developed… God breathed His Spirit into human life…and we became living souls… who were spiritually alive. [1b]

In this sense we were created to be children of God…not in the way of bearing one’s physical nature…but of bearing an eternal spiritual nature. [2]

We were created to represent God…to further create life… bring care and goodness.

It’s hard to fully fathom such a life…but maybe we can begin to imagine the profound security and significance that was intended.

Bible tells the story of how we chose to leave such a state… and give ourselves to the idea that we could be just like gods ourselves… more than creatures…more than humans ….and the result was that we lost the very nature we had.

Related Media

Scriptures: 1 John 2:23 , 1 John 3:1 , 1 Peter 1:4 , 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 , 2 Corinthians 8:9 , 2 Peter 1:3-4 , Acts 17:28 , Ephesians 1:14 , Ephesians 1:6 , Ephesians 3:14-15 , Exodus 19:5 , Galatians 4:7 , Genesis 1:26 , Genesis 1:27 , Genesis 3:17-19 , Hebrews 1:2 , Hebrews 1:3 , Hebrews 5:5 , James 1:17 , Jeremiah 1:4-5 , Jeremiah 31:3 , John 1:12-13 , John 1:33-34 , John 17:22 , John 17:26 , John 1:9-10 , Matthew 10:29-31 , Matthew 5:48 , Matthew 7:11 , Psalm 139:1 , Psalm 139:2 , Psalm 2:7 , Revelation 21:3-4 , Romans 8:14-16 , Romans 8:14-17 , Romans 8:15 , Romans 8:17 , Romans 8:31 , Romans 8:38-39 , Zephaniah 3:17

Sermon Topics: Identity , Child Of God

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J. I. Packer on the 6 Things You Should Tell Yourself Every Day

More by justin.

Spiritual adoption is a big deal for the practical theology of J. I. Packer.

In Knowing God J. I. Packer writes:

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

He says that if he were to focus the New Testament message in three words, he would choose

adoption through propitiation.

“I do not expect,” he writes, “ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.”

How would Packer summarize the whole of New Testament teaching?

a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator .

He summarizes the whole of New Testament religion as

the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father .

Everything that Christ taught,

everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old,

everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish,

is summed up in

the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God .

Packer says that each of us should ask ourselves the following questions:

Do I, as a Christian, understand myself?

Do I know my own real identity?

My own real destiny?

Calling this “the Christian’s secret of a Christian life and of a God-honoring life,” he says that we should take the following truths and “Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as your wait for the bus, any time your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true.”

• I am a child of God.
• God is my Father.
• Heaven is my home.
• Every day is one day nearer.
• My Savior is my brother.
• Every Christian is my brother too.

If you haven’t read Packer’s chapter on adoption in  Knowing God , I highly recommend it.

Justin Taylor is executive vice president for book publishing and publisher for books at Crossway. He blogs at Between Two Worlds and Evangelical History . You can follow him on Twitter .

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“Lesson Five: I Am a Child of God,” Family Home Evening Resource Book (1997), 20

“Lesson Five: I Am a Child of God,” Family Home Evening Resource Book , 20

Lesson Five

I Am a Child of God

Have we not all one father? [ Malachi 2:10 ]

Help family members realize what it means to be children of God.

FOR THE PARENT

From our earthly parents we have inherited our physical characteristics. We have also inherited qualities of nobility, goodness, and eternal worth from our Heavenly Father. Think of the potential of your children. Think of what it could mean to them to really sense their potential. Do you really believe that you are a child of God? Does that knowledge make a difference in your daily life?

PREPARATION

Have two items that have obvious similarities and differences, such as a combination of two of the following: a small rock, a small ball, an orange, or an apple.

Bring a family picture with the parents and all the children, including grandparents if possible, or several pictures of family members, so that everyone is represented.

On a sheet of paper, write “Our Heavenly Father.”

Have a chalkboard or poster to write on and some chalk or a marker.

Have a card or poster for each family member.

For younger children, bring a picture of each family member as a baby.

SUGGESTED HYMNS AND SONG

“O My Father” ( Hymns, no. 292 ).

“I Am a Child of God” ( Hymns, no. 301 ; Children’s Songbook, p. 2 ).

SUGGESTED LESSON

Who are you.

Hold a small rock in your hand, and ask your children:

What is this?

Hold an orange in your other hand.

Ask your family to name as many ways as they can in which these two objects are different. Then ask them to identify how they are similar.

Hold up the family portrait or the separate pictures of family members, and ask:

Who are these people? Who is this?

In what ways are the members of our family different from each other? (Facial characteristics, size, age, talents, and any other ways family members might mention.)

In what ways are members of our family alike? (Color of hair, eyes, freckles, interests, hopes, desires to learn, or whatever your family members identify.)

Point out that we inherited some of these characteristics from our parents.

In what way is our family different from other families? (Looks, house we live in, goals, number of family members.)

In what ways are we like the people in other families? (We enjoy playing, smiling, crying, praying.)

Hold up the paper on which you have written “Our Heavenly Father.”

How are we related to our Heavenly Father? (We are his actual children in the spirit.)

We Belong to Two Families

Place the family portrait(s) beside the piece of paper just discussed. Explain to the family that just as they are members of an earthly family, they are also members of a heavenly family.

Point out that one way we are like each other and like the members of all other families on the earth is that we are all children of God.

Recite the words to the song “I Am a Child of God” ( Hymns, no. 301 ; Children’s Songbook, p. 2 ). After each verse ask a child in the family to tell you what words or ideas in the verse they liked best. (See the facing chart as an example.)

Reviewing the song this way can help your children understand and respond to the words. Listen to their thoughts, and use them later in the lesson.

You might comment, for example, on your own desire to be a kind parent or how one of our needs is to know the truth about God and about blessings that have come by doing his will.

Explain to your children that they will always be members of your family and that you will always be their father and mother. Nothing can change that. The same is true of God’s family. He will always be our Father. We will always be his children. But to return to him we must live his commandments. That’s what the chorus in “I Am a Child of God” means when it states,

“Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday.”

What We Inherit from God

Remind your family that just as we are similar to our earthly parents, we are, as children of God, similar to him. As we can grow up to be like our earthly parents, so we can also grow spiritually to be like our Heavenly Father. (See chapter 2 , “Our Heavenly Family,” Gospel Principles [31110], pp. 11–15.) Draw the following chart on a chalkboard or poster, and ask your children for words that describe what our Heavenly Father is like. Some examples are below:

Your family list may not be exactly like the one illustrated.

Under the heading “His children can be,” write the same qualities you list in the left column. Ask for examples of these very qualities that have been observed in family members during the past week.

Our Worth and Our Potential

Explain to your children that because they are God’s children, they are worth very much.

What is it about us which Heavenly Father would love so much? (First of all, he loves us because we are his spirit children; we are his family. Secondly, he loves us because of what we are capable of doing and becoming.)

Remind your children that their worth, like their family membership, is unquestionable.

What if someone were to tell you that you are not a child of God?

After listening to their answers, reinforce the fact that regardless of what others may say, they are still children of Heavenly Father. Point to the list that you made as you ask the following question:

What if someone were to tell you that you could not develop these qualities?

After they have answered, read and discuss this statement by Lorenzo Snow: “We are the offspring of God, born with the same faculties and powers as He possesses, capable of enlargement through the experience that we are now passing through in our second estate” ( Millennial Star, 3 Dec. 1894, p. 772). Be sure each person knows what the phrase “second estate” means.

Give some practical examples to apply these ideas. For example, when they feel discouraged, encourage your children to look in a mirror and say such things as, “I am a child of God. I can learn and grow. I can be kind to others. I can succeed.”

Have each family member make a small card or poster with the following on it to place by his bed:

I am a child of God, and I can become more ____________.

Explain that each morning before prayer the family member looks at the card and identifies a godly quality he could develop to fill in the missing word, such as loving, forgiving, educated, or accomplished. He should use whatever quality he may feel he needs to develop at the time. Encourage family members to seek the Lord’s help in being true to their capacity to become like him. In the evening, they should ponder the chances they had during the day to work on their potential. Challenge each person to examine the experiences he has had each day and share with his Heavenly Father what he, as one of God’s children, has learned from them.

ADAPTING FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

If possible, display a picture of each family member as a baby. Let the children try to find their own pictures and identify the others. Tell them about the circumstances surrounding their birth. You may wish to describe your feelings as a parent as you prepared for their coming to your home. Describe how you felt when you saw, held, and loved them for the first time. Then ask them to imagine how Heavenly Father must feel to see them growing and learning.

Share how a knowledge that you are a child of God has helped you to choose the right. A specific example of a righteous choice they would understand would be helpful. You could recall how you were tempted to be unkind and then remembered that you were a child of God and so did a kind thing instead. Use some example from your recent experience so that the child will see the point clearly.

Sing “I Am a Child of God” with your children. Then tell them what the words mean to you.

At bedtime, during different nights of the week, spend some time with each child to share with him your knowledge of his worth to you and to God. Give examples of how Heavenly Father and you have confidence in his ability to succeed in life.

ADAPTING FOR TEENAGERS AND ADULTS

Use the family picture, discussing similarities between family members and their earthly parents. Proceed from there to discuss the concept that all persons are children of God.

Do people sometimes teach or imply that we are something less than children of God?

Give examples and the implications of such beliefs on how one feels about oneself.

What difference would it make in how a person acted if he really believed he were a child of God?

Analyze the words of “I Am a Child of God,” and let your children tell what it means to them as young adults. Then make the chart on the chalkboard or poster about what Heavenly Father is and how we can become like him as suggested in the section “What We Inherit from God.”

As you discuss the idea of worth and potential, have your family members analyze Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and Moses 1:39 together so that they will get a feeling of how important we are to our Heavenly Father as his children.

Making the personal poster for each family member to take to his room for consideration in daily prayer could be the most important part of this lesson for teenagers and adults. Explore in depth the development that could come from such an activity.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE HOME EVENINGS

Heavenly father loves us without reservations.

Explain that God is the perfect parent. He loves each of us unconditionally. No matter what we do, he loves us. He can bless us when we obey his commandments, and he must deny us blessings when we do not. But he always loves us and wants us to grow to our full potential (see Moses 1:39 ).

Discuss with your family what that unconditional love means to them. Have the family read the parable of the prodigal son ( Luke 15:11–32 ).

Discuss the joy our Heavenly Father feels when we repent and try to return to him. Assure them that as they repent and go to their Heavenly Father in prayer, he will put his love into their hearts (see Moroni 7:48 ) and they will know that he loves them.

Each Person Is Heavenly Father’s Child

Seat the family in a circle. Place a bottle on its side in the center, and spin the bottle. When it stops, have all the others in the circle tell one thing that describes the person at whom the bottle points. (For example: “He is a boy.” “His name is Terry.” “He is ten years old.” “He laughs a lot.”) If no one else mentions it, add, “He is a child of Heavenly Father.” Repeat this until everyone in the circle has been described.

Point out that even though each person’s description may be different, he is a true child of God.

Then discuss whether Heavenly Father likes one person better than another for any reason, such as his disposition, age, or hair color. Read and discuss Acts 10:34–35 . Explain that every person is important to Heavenly Father because every person is his child.

Children Love and Respect Their Parents

Explain that we are always God’s spirit children and that he loves us. Explain that we can also become his children in a special way. Read Moses 6:65–7:1 . Then tell them that God will not stop being our Father, but we can turn away from being his children.

How? (By not respecting him and obeying his commandments.)

Discuss with your family how obedience makes us children of our Father in Heaven in a special sense.

Read Abraham 3:25 , and discuss what it means.

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Articles/Essays – Volume 55, No. 1

I Am a Child of Gods

“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.” D&C 132:20

The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is cherished among Latter-day Saints. [1] She is birthed from necessity in a physicalist theology. Though she has feminist roots, her theology in Mormonism is laced with latent gender essentialist and complementarian theories. Both have been used in modern Mormonism to exclude the LGBTQ+ community from Mormonism. The assertion that God is composed of one fertile, cisgender, heterosexual couple, namely Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father, is a narrow interpretation of the broadness of Mormon theology. Though gender essentialist interpretations of Heavenly Mother are queer-exclusionary, her presence in Mormon theology opens the door to a robust polytheism that includes an entire community of gods, diverse in gender, race, ability, and desires. In this paper, I argue that if we are all made in the image of God, God is significantly larger than a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual female and male coupling. Through deification, we all have the potential to become gods. In Mormonism, our theology cannot be fully understood unless it is developed within the bounds of the concrete, material, physical, and practical experiences of our human experience. Theosis, or the process of becoming gods, implies a polytheism filled with generational gods as diverse as all humanity.

The doctrine of Heavenly Mother can be traced back to many early Saints, including Eliza R. Snow, W. W. Phelps, Edward Tullidge, Orson Pratt, and Erastus Snow. The earliest references to Heavenly Mother in Mormon theology were found in poetry and theologically committed to physicalism, also called “materialism.” In Mormonism, heavenly beings and families are material like our earthly bodies and families. Not only that, our earthly existence functions as a pattern for a heavenly existence.

One of the earliest and most popular affirmations of Heavenly Mother comes from Eliza R. Snow, polygamous wife to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Her status in the patriarchal order of the Church gave her significant credibility in her poetry and theology. For many, Eliza R. Snow’s poem “Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother” is the most notable beginning of Heavenly Mother in Latter-day Saint worship. Today, Latter-day Saints now sing Snow’s poem in a hymn called “O My Father.” In this poem, Snow potently infuses theology with “reason”: “Truth is reason; truth eternal tells me I have a mother there.” In the first and second verses, she writes about her premortal existence and her longing to return to an “exalted sphere.” In the third verse, she “reasons” that heavenly families must be patterned after earthly families, which include mothers and fathers. She asks, “In the heav’ns are parents single?” To this she replies that the thought of a single parent “makes reason stare!” This seems to defy all reason to Snow. Single parents existed in Snow’s social world, so the allusion to needing both a mother and a father is likely a biological one. The thought of a single Heavenly Father asexually creating all these spirit children is so strange that the “truth” of her “reason” is that we must have “a mother there.” Lastly, the final verse concludes with her desire to meet both her Father and Mother after her earthly probation is over. [2] Snow’s poem is a testament to Mormonism’s commitment to physicalism. In Mormon theology, the earth and heavens are physical or supervene on the physical. In this case, if it takes a fertile cisgender man and woman to make children on earth, it stands to reason, in Snow’s mind, that it takes a fertile cisgender man and woman to make children in the heavens.

Edward W. Tullidge, literary critic, newspaper editor, historian, and influential Latter-day Saint, also wrote about the union of man and woman as a necessary component of celestial glory. In his poem titled “Marriage,” he uses Heavenly Mother to promote complementarian themes and views on gender differences. In short, men and women, in Tullidge’s view, are complements and are perfected through one another. In the first verse of his poem, he uses couplings and pairs to demonstrate that it is by design that man and woman are created for one another. He muses that, when unionized, “two lives, two natures, and two kindred souls” are completed. When separated, they are only parts, “not two perfect wholes” but only incomplete halves to a whole. For Tullidge, “sexes reach their culminating point” when they merge as one. In the second verse, he explicitly states that sexes will never end and asks rhetorically, “Himself sexless and non-mated God? A ‘perfect’ man and yet himself no man?” Here, Tullidge is suggesting that a perfected god cannot be a sexless god. According to Tullidge, sex is a material reality on earth and will continue into heavenly realities: as he writes in the poem, God’s “works on earth” are patterned on “things above.” This is another demonstration of the early Saints’ commitment to physicalism. Finally, in the last verse of the poem, Tullidge concludes with a reference to theosis. In wedlock, couples become like the “first holy pair” and may become “parents of a race as great.” [3] In summary, Tullidge’s poem “Marriage” demonstrates that earthly realties and lived experiences of Latter-day Saints are seen as a pattern for heavenly imaginings.

In both Eliza R. Snow’s and Edward W. Tullidge’s creative works, the doctrine of Heavenly Mother appears to be rooted in the idea that “[God’s] works on earth, but pattern things above.” For Snow, the thought of having a mother on earth and no Mother in the heavens made reason “stare” due to her physicalist views. Tullidge’s praise of the “universe” and “great nature” is another manifestation of physicalism in Mormon theology. God, the heavens, and celestial glory are not a metaphysical paradise beyond the scope of our reality. Again, physicalism is a very important philosophy embraced by early Saints that led them to believe that God must be composed of a fertile, cisgender man and woman.

The completeness of God through the union of man and woman was a common teaching in this period. For instance, in 1853 Orson Pratt affirmed, “No man can be ‘in the Lord,’ in the full sense of this passage, that is, he cannot enter into all the fullness of his glory, ‘without the woman.’ And no woman can be ‘in the Lord,’ or in the enjoyment of a fullness, ‘without the man.’” [4] A couple decades later in 1878, Elder Erastus Snow avowed, “If I believe anything God has ever said about himself . . . I must believe that deity consist of man and woman.” [5] David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido argue that Erastus Snow’s God is not a “hermaphrodite,” but a God composed of male and female through marriage. In a footnote they argue, “The passage reads much clearer within Mormon discourse and Snow’s own declarations if read from a perspective describing social unity in marriage.” [6] Again, even our contemporary interpretations of early Mormonism are committed to physicalist interpretations of our theology.

These sentiments would persist throughout Mormonism in the following years. In the Mormon imagination, Heavenly Mother is a practical necessity and could not be erased even though some began to question her status as a deity. In 1895, George Q. Cannon contended that “there is too much of this inclination to deify ‘our mother in heaven.’ Our Father in heaven should be the object of worship. He will not have any divided worship.” [7] Here we can see that though Heavenly Mother is an essential part of Mormon theology, her robust and equitable inclusion in worship is at times repressed by patriarchal authority. This continued all the way to the late twentieth century. In a general conference talk by President Gordan B. Hinckley in October 1991, he affirmed the doctrine of Heavenly Mother but simultaneously excluded her from explicit worship through prayer. In his words,

Logic and reason would certainly suggest that if we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. That doctrine rests well with me. However, in light of the instruction we have received from the Lord Himself, I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven. [8]

For Hinckley, Heavenly Mother is a matter of “logic and reason,” just as Snow suggested in her poem written over a century ago. Throughout Mormon history, there seems to be a persistence among patriarchs to keep Heavenly Mother under control as a necessary but hidden cog in a physicalist theology.

Feminist Gods

All along the way, Mormon feminists have championed the inclusion of Heavenly Mother in Mormon discourse. Though it is beyond the scope of this paper to give a robust history or analysis of Mormon feminism, it is worth noting that Mormon history is deeply influenced by Mormon feminists both past and present. [9] Mormon feminists have been both friend and foe in the development of a gender-expansive theology. While non-queer feminist interpretations of Heavenly Mother broaden the story of God to include cisgender, heterosexual women, they often also promote gender essentialist interpretations of godhood. Mormon feminists have written poems, articles, essays, and even entire books on Heavenly Mother that further the goals of monogamous, cisgender, heterosexual women but fail to include or comprehend the needs of queer women, and often women of color. At best, non-queer feminist works have attempted to be queer inclusive with sincere intentions but with little understanding of how to actually do it. At worst, feminist works have weaponized Heavenly Mother against the queer community, furthering our exclusion from church pews, temple worship, and ultimately celestial glory with our families. [10]

Non-queer feminists might more thoroughly follow their own physicalist philosophy to more inclusive vistas. In the history of Mormon theology about her, Heavenly Mother generally isn’t queer-inclusive, not because feminist theology is wrong but because it is incomplete. It’s no wonder why some critics suggest that the inclusion of queer genders and relationships in Mormon theology could destroy the very foundation of the Church when the ultimate archetype of God in Mormon culture is shaped by gender essentialist, binary, ableist, monogamist, and complementarian biases.

Monogamy is one way that some Mormon feminists have constricted the possibilities of a theology of Heavenly Mother. For instance, Carol Lynn Pearson’s The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy advocates for a single Heavenly Father and a single Heavenly Mother in an eternal pairing. [11] In this monogamous, cisnormative, heteronormative relationship, she strangulates theological veins that could lead to the inclusion of a multiplicity of diverse gods, including queer genders, queer pairings, and queer groupings. [12] The potential of polygamy could be an opportunity for lesbian, bisexual, trans, infertile, asexual, non-monogamous, and intersex Heavenly Mothers. [13]

Gender essentialism is another limitation that Mormon feminists have placed on teachings about Heavenly Mother. As pointed out by religion scholar Taylor Petrey, many feminist theologians fail to see how their theological ambitions lack queer representations, just as the patriarchs fail to include women. [14] Margaret Toscano wrote in response to Petrey’s criticism: “If there is one regret I have about Strangers in Paradox that I wrote with my husband Paul, it is that we didn’t make homosexuality visual and theologically viable in Mormonism.” [15] While this sentiment is appreciated and represents an improvement on the standard feminist rhetoric in the Church, it suggests a limited focus on homosexuality rather than a more capacious vision of how to include queer women and people in Mormon feminist theology. Mormon feminists should consider how to better include intersex, nonbinary, and trans women in their ambitions. Queerness is more than homosexuality.

Queer Mormon women are women. Feminist and queer approaches should work together to accomplish shared goals of inclusion. These tensions about which women are included in feminism is a long-standing one. Sojourner Truth confronted the hypocrisy of white feminism as far back as the 1850s in her unforgettable speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” [16] These criticisms have been echoed by many women of color throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. [17] To advocate for some women and not all women hardly seems like a feminism worth championing and does not embody the notion that “all are alike unto God.” [18]

People are very good at fashioning God in their own image. This observation is not intended as a slight, nor is it intended to discourage anyone from equitable representation in godhood. My observation that we fashion gods in our image is not an affront but an invitation for LGBTQ+ Saints, Saints of color, single Saints, infertile Saints, and disabled Saints to tell the story of God too. We are all made in the image of God and thus, as believers of Mormon theology, are called to champion the creation of gods as diverse as ourselves.

God is “they” in Mormonism. [19] Many Mormon feminists, Church leaders, and scholars of religion alike have insisted that God is plural—not simply “he” or “she” but “they.” [20] Even modern prophets have referenced Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father as “them.” Dallin H. Oaks is just one example of this when he wrote in an Ensign article, “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.” [21] Though God and heavenly parents have both worn “they” pronouns, the preceding analysis has shown that it is more often than not used to represent a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual, male and female pairing.

While many agree that God is “they,” few consider the ramifications of a “they” God beyond cisnormative, heteronormative, and mononormative assumptions. As previously discussed, many early Mormons considered God to be “they” by earthly reproductive default. For many feminists, God is “they” because women lack divine representation. Yet, for many queer Latter-day Saints, God is “they” because God is a community composed of diverse genders, orientations, abilities, races, bodies, and families. God is “they” because if we are all made in the image of God, “they” is the only pronoun we have in English to adequately signify the plurality and diversity that exists within our heavenly family. [22] God is “they” because God is a community as diverse as our earthly existence, with a diversity of Heavenly Mothers.

Under the umbrella of “God” there are many possible parental formations and familial dynamics, as exemplified in our earthly life. The union of man and woman does not need to mandate heteronormative ideas concerning reproduction, sex, or marriage. It mandates the possibility of multi-gender alliances, partnerships, and cooperation, just like here on earth. Keep in mind that Zion was called Zion because the people were of one heart and one mind. [23] The intimacy of being joined together in heart and mind is not limited to heterosexual relationships between men and women. Zion is bigger. Even families sealed in the temple share more than genetic material. [24]

If life on earth is a pattern for life above, we can see that there are many different family formations on earth right now. Yes, there is the mono-cis-hetero nuclear family model, but there are a lot of other different family groupings too. There are also eternal polygamist groupings. Many Church authorities, from Joseph Smith to President Russell M. Nelson, have been sealed to more than one partner. [25] President Nelson’s eternal family includes two wives, two mothers, two lovers. Some families have two moms, be they polygamist or lesbian. Some families have two dads, be they gay or stepfathers. Some families are single-parent families, and some families have no children. Some families have biological children while others have adopted children. Family relationships in mortality are varied, but under cis-hetero supremacist ideas, we are taught that some of these families are less than, imposters, or counterfeit. [26] Yet, once again, Snow and Tullidge set a powerful precedent when it comes to celestial glory. If life on earth is a pattern for life above, life above is just as diverse as the socialities that exist here among us on earth, and that includes queer families and genders. [27]

Furthermore, in Genesis 1:27, we are symbiotically created in the image of God, both male and female. People have read this passage of scripture and quickly assumed that this excludes queer, trans, or nonbinary genders, but that hasty reading of scripture is incomplete. In Genesis we also read about how God created night and day—two contrasting polarities separated from one another through lightness and darkness. [28] At first glance it might seem like the division between day and night creates a clear binary. However, in the following sentence, it states that God also created evening and morning. [29] Night and day, both necessary and lovely, are opposites resting at the ends of a broad spectrum. In transition between them is morning and evening. Yes, God created night and day, but God also created dawn and dusk. Dawn and dusk are no less godly than night and day simply because they are transitions. The same is true of humanity. God created man and woman—two lovely binaries made in the image of God. Yet in transition between them are nonbinary bodies and spirits. Though we are rare, we are no less godly. We are the dawn and dusk of humanity. There is a spectrum of transitions between lightness and darkness, day and night, earth and water, man and woman. We are all made in the image of God—intersex, nonbinary, and trans—because God created more than binaries.

Each of us is the coeternal image of God. [30] In a physicalist theology, we are literally made in their likeness. God is a community intimately intertwined with the materiality of every living entity. God is life eternal—wholly, singly, and plurally. [31] Any other reductive, androcentric, cisnormative, heteronormative, ableist, or white aesthetic of an all-encompassing God would be an incomplete, even harmful, representation of God’s plurality. The community that is God is reflected in all life, not just men, women, or even humans. God told Moses, “Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?” [32] It stands to reason that an endless God, at the very least, has the potential to include queer bodies, queer genders, and queer families in our coeternal nature. We have the potential to be just as diverse and endless as God through theosis.

Theosis, or the process of becoming gods, is at the core of LDS religion. It undergirds all other doctrines and policies of the Church. It does not dishonor God to emulate them. Quite the opposite. Our emulation of God is our highest respect and worship. Again, as stated by Dallin H. Oaks, “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.” [33] If it does not dishonor the Father for men to emulate him, use his priesthood power, and strive to divinity, then it does not dishonor the Mother that her daughters should emulate her. Likewise, queer folks in no way dishonor God when we emulate and worship them in our works, worship, and theology. Quite the opposite—it’s a manifestation of our highest respect, faith, works, and reverence.

Generational Gods

In Mormonism, gods create gods in worlds without end, and no god exists independent of their community, heritage, or posterity. [34] We are taught this through scriptures, hymns, and temple ritual. Even beyond the Mormon Godhead being composed of three separate beings, including a God composed of a full spectrum of genders, marriages, alliances, relationships, and partnerships, Mormon theology can be taken even further.

In Mormonism, God is a community of generational beings. Godhood is not a one-time occurrence. From early Saints to modern prophets, we all have the potential to share in the same glory as our heavenly parents. [35] We do temple work because the hearts of the children turn to their parents. [36] The spirit of Elijah, also defined as the spirit of familial kinship and unity, demands the plurality of gods. [37] Being a child of God isn’t just a theoretical or metaphysical proposition but has a material lineage and posterity. In the taxonomy of gods, we are the same species as God. [38] We are all made in the image of God with the potential to join the endless network of gods above and partake of our heavenly inheritance. Our theology is so much grander than a single Heavenly Father or Mother. God is expansive, dynamic, generational, and endless. Yet at the same time God is as familial, personal, and physical as a great-grandparent or great-grandchild. [39]

God wasn’t always God but became God. [40] God was once a child of God, too. God also has heavenly parents. Likewise, those heavenly parents have heavenly parents, and those heavenly parents have heavenly parents. Not only that: if our children make it to godhood they will become gods too, and their children will become gods, and their children’s children will become gods. Gods birth gods in an eternal, interconnected round. God is an eternal, never-ending cycle of creation without beginning or end. [41] As Joseph Smith taught, “The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end.” [42] If our prophets, scriptures, and rituals are to be taken seriously, God is not just God, but Gods—communally, generationally, and endlessly. [43]

Mormon theology leads to the inclusion of innumerable, diverse, generational gods reflected in our earthly experience. This concept is beautifully and artistically iterated in the hymn “If You Could High to Kolob,” with text written by W. W. Phelps. In this iconic hymn, philosophy and poetry articulate the doctrine of generational gods. According to this hymn, no one knows where gods begin, nor if they will end.

If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye, And then continue onward With that same speed to fly, Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity, Find out the generation Where Gods began to be? Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend? Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end? Methinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’ Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place.” [44]

Phelps’s poetry echoes the teachings of Joseph Smith. He taught, “If [we] do not comprehend the character of God [we] do not comprehend ourselves.” [45] Joseph Smith is inviting us to understand that God is so much more than our limited perceptions, not just of gender, orientation, or anatomical differences, but of space, time, and eternity. The image of God includes the whole of humanity. Not just one Heavenly Mother, but many diverse, unique, and exquisite Heavenly Mothers. Not just one Heavenly Father, but many diverse, unique, and exquisite Heavenly Fathers. Not just one pairing of heavenly parents, but many diverse pairings, even groupings, of heavenly parents—polygamous or otherwise.

Joyful Gods

God is so benevolent and grand that we all could have a place in the community of gods if it is the desire of our hearts. [46] We are taught in Doctrine and Covenants that we are not meant to passively wait for godhood to come to us. Mormonism is a religion of praxis—a religion of doing. Faith without works is dead. [47] To become gods requires us to bring to pass righteousness of our own free will without idly being told what to do and to be anxiously engaged in good causes. [48] Godhood is a fruition of our desires and efforts. As taught by Jeffrey R. Holland, if we want to become gods, we must do godly things with our godly desires.

We’re the church that says we’re gods and goddesses in embryo. We’re the Church that says we’re kings and queens. We’re priests and priestesses. People accuse us of heresy. They say we’re absolutely heretical, non-Christians because we happen to believe what all the prophets taught and that is that we are children of God, joint heirs with Christ. We just happen to take the scriptures literally that kids grow up to be like their parents. But how does that happen? How does godliness happen? Do we just pop up? Are we just going to pop up out of the grave? Hallelujah, it’s resurrection morning! Give me a universe or two. Bring me some worlds to run! . . . I don’t think so. That doesn’t sound like line upon line or precept upon precept to me. How do you become godly? You do godly things. That’s how you become godly. And you practice and you practice and you practice. [49]

Now is not the time to “procrastinate the day of our salvation.” [50] Now is not the time to idly “dream of our mansions above.” [51] This is not the time to revel in smug complacency about a completed Restoration. [52] The Restoration is still happening. [53] Godhood is still and always will be in a creative and formative process. There is no end to “restoration” in a theology that believes in eternal progression. There is no end to an endless God. The inclusion and creation of queer gods beyond a single paring of fertile, cisgender, heterosexual Gods called “Heavenly Mother” and “Heavenly Father” depends on us when we are both the creator and inheritors of godhood.

In Doctrine and Covenants we are taught that the same sociality that exists here will exist in the next life, only it will be coupled with eternal glory. [54] Our relationships are so important that Joseph Smith declared “friendship” to be “one of the grand fundamental principles of ‘Mormonism.’” He also commented that, “Friendship is like Brother Turley in his blacksmith shop welding iron to iron; it unites the human family with its happy influence.” [55] Smith knew the value of friendship. When he was isolated from friends he said, “Those who have not been enclosed in the walls of prison can have but little idea how sweet the voice of a friend is.” [56] As he was escorted to his death at Carthage, he said, “If my life is of no value to my friends it is of none to myself.” [57] Godhood is not simply about couples being sealed, it’s also about friendship. The friendships, relationships, and sociality of what we have here on earth is only a taste of things to come. What we learn here from Joseph Smith is that the community of gods should be linked together on the bonds of friendship for our enjoyment, happiness, and joy.

Sadly, at present, LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints are not included fully in the bonds of celestial friendship. [58] Queer Saints are abused, excluded, rejected, isolated, ridiculed, and persecuted. We have been taught implicitly and explicitly to hate ourselves, our bodies, our genders, and our orientations. [59] From reparative therapy to folk doctrines of transfiguring queer bodies into straight bodies, fellow Saints work toward our extinction. [60] At best, we are placated by false platitudes of love by those who know little of our world. [61] At worst, fellow Saints advocate for our celestial genocide. [62] It wasn’t that long ago that Spencer W. Kimball was lamenting the fact the homosexuals could not receive the death penalty. [63] The sociality that exists within the Church does not bring us a fullness of joy and happiness and it is not because LGBTQ+ Saints are unworthy of happiness.

The book of Job shows us that not all suffering is a product of sin. Even God’s most “perfect and upright” children suffer at the hands of other. [64] Even though he suffered greatly, “Job sinned not.” [65] As was the belief of the time, Job’s friends insisted that he must have sinned and brought this suffering upon himself. [66] However, Job rejected this assessment of his suffering and stood firm in his beliefs that unhappiness is not always caused by sin. [67]

Likewise, the suffering of queer Saints is not a product of sinful gender identities, expressions, pronouns, surgeries, or relationships. Queer suffering stems from being greeted with prejudice, fear, misunderstanding, falsehoods, skepticism, violence, and ignorance from what feels like every possible vantage point. If ever there were a group of people in need of a friendship, it is queer Latter-day Saints. The sociality that exists among the Saints today is not glorified and will not be glorified until it includes us as equitable members of the community of gods.

Though the Mormon understanding of Heavenly Mother is carving a path to a more inclusive physicalist theology, she is not the only godly archetype in our repertoire. God certainly includes visions of a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual Heavenly Mother, but God also includes so much more. LGBTQ+ theologians, like myself, argue that deification includes us too. We are all made in the image of God, which includes queer, intersex, trans, and nonbinary bodies. [68] Deification includes diverse marriages, children, relationships, families, and socialities, even if queer sealings are delayed by prejudice set against the fulfillment of joy. We belong, if nowhere else, among the gods.

We are not just children of God. We are children of gods in an endlessly creative, dynamic community of diverse deities reflected in our earthly existence. The sociality here is that of the gods. Under this more robust vision of God, cherished hymns like “I Am a Child of God” could be enhanced by using more inclusive terminology. Surely, I am a child of gods.

I am a child of Gods, And they have sent me here, Have given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear. I am a child of Gods, And so my needs are great; Help me to understand their words Before it grows too late. I am a child of Gods. Rich blessings are in store; If I but learn to do their will, I’ll live with them once more. I am a child of Gods. Their promises are sure; Celestial glory shall be mine If I can but endure. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do To live with them someday. [69]

Note: The Dialogue Foundation provides the web format of this article as a courtesy. There may be unintentional differences from the printed version. For citational and bibliographical purposes, please use the printed version or the PDFs provided online and on JSTOR.

[1] “ Mother in Heaven ,” Gospel Topics Essays.

[2] “O My Father,” Hymns, no. 292.

[3] Edward W. Tullidge, “Marriage,” Millennial Star 19, no. 41 (1857): 656.

[4] Orson Pratt, “Celestial Marriage,” The Seer 1, Apr. 1853, 59.

[5] Erastus Snow, Mar. 3, 1878, Journal of Discourses, 19:269–70.

[6] David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido, “‘A Mother There’: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven,” BYU Studies 50, no. 1 (2011): 70–97.

[7] George Q. Cannon, “Topics of the Times: The Worship of Female Deities,” Juvenile Instructor 30, May 5, 1895, 314–17.

[8] Gordon B. Hinckley, “ Daughters of God ,” Oct. 1991.

[9] Joanna Brooks, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, and Hannah Wheelwright, eds., Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).

[10] Valerie Hudson, “ Women in the Church—A Conversation with Valerie Hudson ,” Faith Matters (podcast), Dec. 29, 2019.

[11] Carol Lynn Pearson, The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men (Walnut Creek, Calif.: Pivot Point Books, 2016).

[12] Blaire Ostler, “ Queer Polygamy ,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 52, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 33–43.

[13] I want to make clear that no one should enter a marriage, polygamous or monogamous, if it is not their desire. Asking women who desire monogamy to practice polygamy for all eternity is just as oppressive as asking homosexual people to practice heterosexuality for all eternity. However, if fear of polygamy causes someone to oppress those who are different from them, they have now become the oppressor they so desperately tried to liberate themselves from.

[14] Taylor Petrey, “Rethinking Mormonism’s Heavenly Mother,” Harvard Theological Review 109, no. 3 (2016): 16.

[15] Margaret Toscano, “ How Bodies Matter: A Response to ‘Rethinking Mormonism’s Heavenly Mother,’ ” By Common Consent (blog), Aug. 30, 2016.

[16] Sojourner Truth, “ Ain’t I A Woman ?,” speech, Women’s Rights Convention, May 29, 1851, Akron, Ohio.

[17] bell hooks, Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981).

[18] 2 Nephi 26:33.

[19] Genesis 3:22; Doctrine and Covenants 132:20.

[20] Tyler Chadwick, Dayna Patterson, Martin Pulido, eds., Dove Song: Heavenly Mother in Poetry (El Cerrito, Calif.: Peculiar Pages, 2018), 4.

[21] Dallin H. Oaks, “ Apostasy and Restoration ,” Apr. 1995.

[22] Genesis 1:27; Genesis 3:22.

[23] Moses 7:18.

[24] General Handbook: Serving in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [July 2021], 38.4.2., “ Sealing Children to Parents .”

[25] “ Elder Russell M. Nelson Marries Wendy L. Watson ,” Newsroom, Apr. 6, 2006.

[26] L. Tom Perry, “ Why Marriage and Family Matter—Everywhere in the World ,” Apr. 2015.

[27] Doctrine and Covenants 130:2.

[28] Genesis 1:3–5.

[29] Genesis 1:5.

[30] Joseph Smith, “ King Follet Sermon ,” Apr. 7, 1844, in History of the Church, 6:311. “There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven.”

[31] John 17:3; Doctrine and Covenants 14:7; Moses 1:4; Moses 1:39.

[32] Moses 1:3.

[33] Oaks, “Apostasy and Restoration.”

[34] Moses 1:33.

[35] Jeffrey R. Holland, “ Elder Holland Arizona April 2016 ,” YouTube, Apr. 30, 2016.

[36] Malachi 4:6.

[37] Doctrine and Covenants 138:47–48; Doctrine and Covenants 110:13–16.

[38] Andrew C. Skinner, To Become Like God: Witnesses of Our Divine Potential (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016), 13.

[39] Doctrine and Covenants 76:24.

[40] Smith, “ King Follet Sermon ,” in History of the Church, 6:305. “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret.”

[41] Hebrews 7:3.

[42] Smith, “King Follet Sermon.”

[43] Psalm 82:6; John 10:34–35; Acts 17:29.

[44] “If You Could Hie to Kolob,” Hymns, no. 284.

[45] Smith, “King Follet Sermon.”

[46] Psalm 37:4; Psalm 20:4.

[47] James 2:20.

[48] Doctrine and Covenants 58:26–27; 2 Nephi 26:33.

[49] Holland, “Elder Holland Arizona April 2016.”

[50] Alma 34:35.

[51] “Have I Done Any Good?,” Hymns, no. 223.

[52] Hebrews 6:12.

[53] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “ Are You Sleeping Through the Restoration? ,” Apr. 2014.

[54] Doctrine and Covenants 130:2.

[55] Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:517.

[56] Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:293.

[57] Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 6:549.

[58] General Handbook, 38.6.15, 38.6.16, 38.6.23.

[59] Andrew E. Evans, “ Rise and shout, the Cougars are out ,” Outsports, June 8, 2017.

[60] Blaire Ostler, Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction (Newburgh, Ind.: By Common Consent Press, 2021).

[61] . Blaire Ostler, “ More Than a Statistic ,” Queer Mormon Transhumanist (blog), Sept. 10, 2018.

[62] . Blaire Ostler, “ Celestial Genocide ,” Queer Mormon Transhumanist (blog), Sept. 19, 2019.

[63] Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), 79.

[64] Job 1:1.

[65] Job 1:22.

[66] Job 36:1–12.

[67] Job 31.

[68] 2 Nephi 26:33.

[69] Revised version of “I Am a Child of God,” Hymns, no. 301.

2022:  Blaire Ostler, “ I Am a Child of Gods ”  Dialogue 55 .1 (Spring 2022): 99–119.

The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is cherished among Latter-day Saints. She is birthed from necessity in a physicalist theology. Though she has feminist roots, her theology in Mormonism is laced with latent gender essentialist and complementarian theories. Both have been used in modern Mormonism to exclude the LGBTQ+ community from Mormonism. The assertion that God is composed of one fertile, cisgender, heterosexual couple, namely Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father, is a narrow interpretation of the broadness of Mormon theology. Though gender essentialist interpretations of Heavenly Mother are queer-exclusionary, her presence in Mormon theology opens the door to a robust polytheism that includes an entire community of gods, diverse in gender, race, ability, and desires. In this paper, I argue that if we are all made in the image of God, God is significantly larger than a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual female and male coupling. Through deification, we all have the potential to become gods. In Mormonism, our theology cannot be fully understood unless it is developed within the bounds of the concrete, material, physical, and practical experiences of our human experience. Theosis, or the process of becoming gods, implies a polytheism filled with generational gods as diverse as all humanity.

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Teaching Children the Gospel

Lessons and activities for teaching children of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, child of god: lesson ideas, table of contents, premortal life, made in his image, we can become like our heavenly father, traits inherited from heavenly father, heavenly father loves us, he loves all his children, we feel their love when we pray, i lived with heavenly father before i came to earth., heavenly father knew me before i was born., i am a child of god. (younger children), i am a child of god. (older children), heirs of god, heavenly father is the father of our spirits.

Doctrine and Covenants 130:22

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 129-132”

When we understand that God the Father and Jesus Christ have bodies like ours, we feel closer to Them, and our relationship with Them is strengthened.

• Show the children a picture of Jesus Christ, and invite them to point to His eyes, mouth, and other parts of His body. Then invite them to stand and point to those same parts of their own bodies. Read from  Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 : “The Father has a body of flesh and bones … ; the Son also.” Testify that our bodies are like Heavenly Father’s and Jesus’s bodies.
• Sing together a song about our bodies, such as “ Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes ” (Children’s Songbook, 275), and invite the children to do actions that go along with the words. Ask the children to tell you some things they can do with their bodies. Express your gratitude for the body God has given you. How can we show we are thankful for this special gift?
• Invite the children to draw pictures of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and themselves. Help them see how our bodies are like Heavenly Father’s and Jesus’s.

Friend August 2016 “God is Our Father” God our Father has ears with which to hear our prayers. He has eyes with which to see our actions. He has a mouth with which to speak to us. He has a heart with which to feel compassion and love. He is real. He is living. We are his children made in His image. We look like Him and He looks like us.

Friend November 2020 “Like Him”

Friend April 1984

Friend October 2015

Moses 1:1–4, 6 , 30, 37–39;  Abraham 3:22–28

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Old Testament 2022 “Moses 1; Abraham 3”

For younger children :

• Read to the children what God said to Moses: “Thou art my son” ( Moses 1:4 ). Invite a child to the front of the room, and ask the children to repeat with you, “[Child’s name], you are a child of God.” Repeat the phrase for each child in the class.
• Show several pictures of children, and ask the class if these children are all children of God. Emphasize that everyone is a child of God. Let the children take turns looking in a mirror, and testify that they are children of God too.
• Sing “ I Am a Child of God ” (Children’s Songbook, 2–3) with the children. Let them color this week’s activity page, and use it to review the truths this song teaches.

For older kids:

• Read with the children  Moses 1:4, 37–39  and  Abraham 3:24–25 . Give them opportunities to ask questions and share favorite words or phrases from these verses. What do we learn from these verses about Heavenly Father? about ourselves?
• Show the children pictures of some of Heavenly Father’s many creations. Read  Moses 1:30 , and explain that Moses asked God about the purpose of these creations. Help the children search in  verse 39  to find God’s answer. Testify that God’s purpose is to help each child gain eternal life.
• Help the children think of situations in which they have to choose whether or not to “do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command” ( Abraham 3:25 ). Let them practice or discuss possible responses to those situations. How can the Savior help us when we make a wrong choice?

Primary 1 (Sunbeams) “Lesson One: I Am a Child of God”

We lived in Heaven: ( Click on the below picture. Print the picture, or show it on an electronic device.) Explain that before we were born on earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father.

Friend April 2015

We were spirits there. A spirit is what is inside of us that makes us alive. When we were spirits, we didn’t have flesh and bones like our bodies have now, but we looked the same.

(Use these puppets to demonstrate what it means to be a spirit. See here for assembly instructions.) 

Show the first picture again and explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children

Sing: I Am a Child of God.   Tell the children they are going to sing the song “I Am a Child of God.” Explain that  God  is another name for Heavenly Father. (I like the Red Headed Hostess visual aids for the first verse of this song, but it does cost money. Jolly Jen has a flip chart that would work too, or you could use the below visual s from the Nursery Manual . Also see lds.org for the music )

Who is a child of God?   Toss a beanbag or soft object to a child as you say the words “I know a child of God named_____ .” Have the child say his or her own name and give the beanbag back to you. Repeat the activity until everyone has had a turn.

Print and cut out this activity . Show the pictures one at a time and ask the following:

Is a policeman a child of God?

Is someone who lives in a different country or culture

Is a bishop

Is a grandmother or grandfather

Is a soldier

Is someone who doesn’t go to our church

Is a mailman or missionaries

Is a mom or dad

Have the children take turns posting each picture under the title “Child of God.” The title can be written on the board or in a file folder or display board.  You can also bring up people they know such as a neighbor.

Help the children understand that everyone is a child of God even though we may be different in age, hair color, what we do, where we live, skin color, or the church we attend, we are all children of God.

We can be like Heavenly Father 

(Print and cut out these images pdf .) Use the following questions with the images. They could also be made into a matching game.

• What is a baby dog called?
• What will that puppy grow up to be?
• What is a baby chicken called?
• What will that chick grow up to be?

Explain that just as animals grow up to be like their parents, we will grow up to be like our parents.

Friend January 2017 “Kylie’s Parents” Kylie is like her earthly parents, and she is also like her Heavenly Parents. PDF version

• Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, so we can grow to be like him. Heavenly Father is loving, good, and kind. When we are loving, good, and kind, we are being like Heavenly Father.  We should try to become more like Heavenly Father every day.

Have children tell or act out ways they can be loving, good, or kind.

(The images for the activity “Who is a Child of God?” are from the Friend magazine. Soldier 6/16, Bishop 1/16, etc.The images for the animals are from Pixabay: Free Images )

Friend January 2022 “I Am a Child of God” Coloring page

Friend March 2023 “I Am Amazing”

Ensign July 2019  “Family Study Fun”

In Athens, Paul taught people who believed that gods were powers or forces, not living, personable beings. Help your family recognize that we are literally the “offspring of God” ( ).

• Pass out paper to each family member and instruct them to list on the paper the traits they’ve inherited from their parents, such as physical traits or personality traits. Discuss how these traits help you and your family members know who their parents are.
• Next, have each family member list traits they inherited from Heavenly Father. Refer to patriarchal blessings if appropriate. Discuss how knowing that we have inherited these traits can strengthen our testimony that we are children of God.

Friend January 2022 “You Are a Beloved Child of God” “You are a beloved child of God. Please remember that fact. If you never forget that one pure truth, you can face any problem with faith and courage. I know that Heavenly Father watches over you. He loves you very much, and so do I.” (President Russel M. Nelson)

Primary Sharing Time 2018 “I am a Child of God” Week One

1. Guessing game with clues about who you are thinking of (Heavenly Father).

2. Read scriptures about how the Lord addresses each prophet, and then help the children understand that God knows each of us by name.

3. Pass around several items that represent God’s love for His children as they sing “I Am a Child of God” (CS, 2–3) or “I Know My Father Lives” (CS, 5).

Friend August 2019 “Show and Tell” Primary children in Virginia, USA, were given the “toothbrush challenge”—to look in the mirror and say, “I am a child of God,” when they brushed their teeth each day. Each Sunday they shared how God had helped them during the week. Then they put a pom-pom in a jar to help them remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.

Friend January 2016 Stand tall because you are a child of God and he stands with you. Heavenly Father lifts and helps us. He blesses us with others to help us. .

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–12

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 18–19: “The Worth of Souls Is Great”

Many people struggle with feelings of low self-worth; others are unkind toward people who are different from them. The powerful message of  Doctrine and Covenants 18:10  can change how we view ourselves and people around us.

Repeat  verse 10  with the children, this time replacing “souls” with the children’s names.

Help the children think of things that people consider valuable. Then let the children take turns looking in a mirror, and as they do, tell each child that he or she is a child of God and of great worth. Testify that to Heavenly Father, they are more valuable than all the things they thought of earlier.

• Ask each child to write his or her name on a piece of paper and pass the papers around the room. Invite them to write on each paper they receive something they like about that person. Encourage them to be kind and thoughtful in their comments. Then help the children read  Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–12 , and invite them to share what they learn about how God feels about us. Explain that we are all of great worth to God because we are His children.
• Show the children something that is very valuable to you. How do we treat things that are valuable to us? Ask a child to read  Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 . How can we show other people that “the worth of [their] souls is great” in our sight?

Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 18–19: “The Worth of Souls Is Great”

Each family member could read  Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13  and substitute his or her name in place of the words “soul,” “souls,” and “all men.” You could then discuss how these verses help us understand our worth to the Father and the Son (see  Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19 ).

Liahona February 2021 “Your Worth is Great” Family Study Fun: Circle of Worth

Circle of Worth : Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were counseled to remember that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” ( Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 ). As we help others to see their own worth, we bring them nearer to Christ while becoming closer to Him ourselves.

• Invite family members to sit in a circle.
• Each person will take a turn standing in the middle of the circle.
• Everyone sitting in the circle will tell the middle person, “You matter to me because ___________,” and share specific details of why that person is of worth to them.
• The middle person will then choose their own statement of personal worth: “I matter to God and myself because __________.”

Discussion:  Why is it important to remember our own worth as well as the worth of those around us? If Christ were in the circle, what would He say about us? Read  Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13  and discuss what Christ went through because of how much He loves and values us.

Friend February 2021 “Scripture Time Fun”

Friend February 2021 “Scripture Time for Little Ones” For   Doctrine and Covenants 18–19 :  Help your little ones say, “I am important to Heavenly Father.” Then sing “I Am a Child of God” ( Children’s Songbook,  2) and have your children give themselves a hug when they sing the words, “I am a child of God.”

Friend November 2020 “We are Moving Forward”

Friend March 2022 “He Is There” Song and Music Video

2. Do you ever stop to think What your Heavenly Father sees When He looks at you?

He smiles brighter than the sun When He sees His precious one; There’s just one like you!

So take comfort when that quiet voice reminds you:

Chorus 2: He is there, greater than any challenge. God is there, watching you as you grow,

Sending comfort in the night, Helping you know and choose what’s right.

You’re not alone, for He is always there. So keep trying, keep growing;

Keep praying, keep knowing:God loves you so, and He is always there.

For additional teaching ideas see “ Child of God “

Friend November 2023 “Conference Notes”

Elder Stevenson  invited us to stop each time we see ourselves in a mirror and say, “Wow, look at me! I am amazing! I am a child of God! He knows me! He loves me!” Doing this will help us remember who we really are and how God and the Holy Ghost can help us.

This teaches me:

Friend October 2022 “Bright Idea”

Friend September 2020 “Everyone is Important” We’re all daughters and sons of our heavenly parents—not all the same, but all equally important, needed, valuable, and loved!

Friend March 2019

Friend October 2018

Friend February 1988

Nursery Manual  “Behold Your Little Ones”

If you’re very, very tall, (stretch and reach arms up) Heavenly Father knows and loves you. If you’re very, very small, (crouch down) Heavenly Father knows and loves you. Tall, (stretch up) Small, (crouch down) Tall, (stretch up) Small, (crouch down) Heavenly Father knows and loves us all.

Ensign October 2017  We grow closer to Them and feel their love as we pray and read the scriptures. Color a heart each time you do one of these things.

God is the Father of our spirits. We are literally His children, and He loves us. We lived as spirit children of our Father in Heaven before we were born on this earth.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:23, 29, 38

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine & Covenants 93”

The Savior emphasized three times in  section 93  that we lived with God “in the beginning” ( verses 23, 29, 38 ). Why might He want us to know this? How might knowing this truth bless the children you teach?

• Repeat together with the children the words “Ye were also in the beginning with the Father” ( Doctrine and Covenants 93:23 ). Explain that before we were born on earth, we lived with Heavenly Father in heaven. Sing together “ I Am a Child of God ” or “ I Lived in Heaven ” (Children’s Songbook,2–3, 4).
• Invite the children to draw pictures of themselves with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the premortal life. Bear your testimony that God loves all of us and that we are all His children.
• Read  Doctrine and Covenants 93:23, 29, 38  together, and invite the children to look for a truth about themselves that is repeated in these verses. Ask the children to share anything they know about our life with Heavenly Father before we were born. Give each child one of the following scripture references, and help them find something these scriptures teach about life before we came to earth:  Jeremiah 1:5 ;  Doctrine and Covenants 138:53–56 ;  Moses 3:5 ;  Abraham 3:22–26 .
• Sing together “ I Am a Child of God ” or “ I Lived in Heaven ” (Children’s Songbook, 2–3, 4). What truths do we learn from this song about our purpose for coming to earth?

Friend August 2021 “Scripture Time Fun” Reminder Rocks

• Sing “I Am a Child of God” ( Children’s Songbook,  2–3).
• We lived with Heavenly Father before we came to earth (see  Doctrine and Covenants 93:23 ). We are all His children.
• Find some smooth rocks and write “You are a child of God” on them with paint or markers. Then give each rock to a friend, family member, or someone you think could use a reminder.

Jeremiah 1:5

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Old Testament 2022 “Jeremiah 1–3; 7; 16–18; 20” Because we lived with God before we came to earth, He knows us, even if we can’t remember Him. How will you help the children you teach understand this important truth?

• Read to the children  Jeremiah 1:5 , and explain that God knew the prophet Jeremiah before he was born. Tell each child, individually, that Heavenly Father also knew him or her before he or she was born and that He sent each of us here for a purpose.

We lived in Heaven: Explain that before we were born on earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father.

• Show the children a picture of a baby, and ask the children if they know where this baby lived before he or she was born. Sing together a song that teaches about our premortal life with God, such as “ I Am a Child of God ” or “ I Lived in Heaven ” (Children’s Songbook, 2–3, 4). Talk about the spiritual feelings the song brings. Bear your testimony that we all once lived with Heavenly Father and that He sent us here to earth.

We Are All Children of God.

Friend June 2024 Cover

Doctrine and Covenants 76:24

President Dallin H. Oaks said that if we teach “a young person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of God,” we can give him or her the “self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life” (“ Powerful Ideas ,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 25).

Explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children

• To help the children understand their potential to become like God, find ways to show them that baby animals grow to become like their parents—perhaps the children could match pictures of animals with pictures of the animals’ babies. Open the scriptures to  Doctrine and Covenants 76:24 , and tell the children that we are all “sons and daughters unto God.” Bear your testimony that God is our Father and that we can grow to be like our Heavenly Parents..
• Sing together “ I Am a Child of God ” (Children’s Songbook,2–3), and invite the children to point to themselves when they sing “I.” Ask them to sing the song again, replacing “I am” with “you are” and pointing to someone else in the class.

Explain that  God  is another name for Heavenly Father.

(The below visuals are from the Nursery Manual . Also see lds.org for the music )

Acts 17:22–31

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: New Testament 2023 “Acts 16-21” On Mars’ Hill, Paul taught basic truths about the nature of God, including the truths that we are His children and that He is “not far from every one of us” ( Acts 17:27 ). How can you help the children feel close to their Heavenly Father?

Invite the children to repeat the phrase “We are the offspring of God” ( Acts 17:29 ), and explain that  offspring  means children. Bear your testimony to each child, one by one, that he or she is a child of God. Invite them to share how they feel about their Heavenly Father.

• Print one of the below image for each child and have them write their name on the line in the sentence and then draw a picture of themself

Show pictures of children with their families (if possible, include pictures of the children in your class). Ask the children to point to the parents in the pictures. Explain that we are the children of our mothers and fathers, and all of us are also spirit children of our heavenly parents.

• Friend January 2017 “ Kylie’s Parents” Kylie is like her earthly parents, and she is also like her Heavenly Parents. PDF version

Sing a song about Heavenly Father, such as “ I Know My Father Lives ” (Children’s Songbook, 5). With help from the children, write words or draw pictures on the board that represent things we learn about Heavenly Father from the song.

Read to the children these words from  Acts 17:27 : “He be not far from every one of us.” Talk about times when you have felt close to Heavenly Father, and invite the children to do the same.

• Friend August 2017 “Ralphie’s Amazing Find” A boy is upset that his best friend is moving. He takes his dog for a walk, and his dog discovers a beautiful waterfall. The boy feels God’s love for him.

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: New Testament 2023 “Acts 16-21” How can you help the children remember that they are children of God?

Show the children a stone, and explain that in Paul’s day, people worshipped gods they made out of stone and other materials.

• Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: New Testament 2023 “Acts 16-21” In Athens, Paul found people with diverse opinions and religious views. They were always seeking “to hear some new thing,” and what Paul had to offer was definitely new to them (see  Acts 17:19–21 ). They worshipped many gods, including one they called “the unknown God” ( Acts 17:23 ), but they believed that gods were powers or forces, not living, personal beings, and certainly not our Father .

Ask the children to read  Acts 17:27–29 . What do we learn about God from these verses? Explain that  offspring  means children. Ask the children how it makes them feel to know that they are children of God. ( Explain that we are the children of our mothers and fathers, and all of us are also spirit children of our heavenly parents. )

Ask the children to read  Acts 17:27 . Invite the children to write about or draw pictures of ways they can “feel after” or come closer to God. When have they felt that He is “not far from [them]”?

• The below pictures can help the children with ideas on how they can come closer to God.

• Talk to Him through Daily Prayer Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him. What a marvelous and wonderful thing is prayer. Think of it. We can actually speak with our Father in Heaven.” God wants to hear from you, and He is always available to listen. He wants to hear about your day, he wants to hear what you are grateful for, and He wants to hear how He can help you. Latter Day Saint Channel “ How to Build a Relationship with God “
• Study God’s Words in the Scriptures and from His Living prophets. Some describe the scriptures as “God’s love letter” to us. In the scriptures we learn more about God and of his love for us and how we can become like him and draw closer to him.
• Keep the Commandments When we live righteously we are be blessed with “His Spirit to be with us”.
• Go to Church Meetings and Temples . We learn of God and feel his Spirit in church meetings and at temples.
• Take the Sacrament and Remember Jesus Christ . Heavenly Father loves us and sent Jesus to help us and be our Savior. Remembering Jesus Christ and what he did for us and the example he set helps us see and understand who our Heavenly Father is and how we can become closer to him.
• Be Grateful for Our Blessings. The earth and everything on it was created under the direction of Heavenly Father. Gratitude for our many blessings helps us feel closer to Heavenly Father.
• New Testament Seminary Teacher Manual (2023) “Acts 17:16–34” Seek the Lord Consider hiding something in the classroom that students would enjoy finding, like a piece of candy. Invite students to search for the hidden surprise until it is found. Discuss the effort students put into finding the object and why effort is needed to obtain something worthwhile. Encourage students to analyze  Acts 17:27 , including the Joseph Smith Translation found in footnote  b . Point out that Paul testified to the Athenians that God is close to His children and desires all to seek after Him.

Child of God Resources See this site for additional Child of God resources

You might introduce  Galatians 4  by discussing the differences between a king’s servants and his children. What opportunities or potential does a king’s child have that a servant does not? Think about this as you read together  verses 1–7 . What do these verses teach about our relationship with Heavenly Father? ( Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: New Testament 2023 “Galatians” )

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Home — Essay Samples — Religion — Kingdom of God — My Identity As A Child Of God

My Identity as a Child of God

• Categories: Kingdom of God

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Words: 1174 |

Published: Mar 14, 2019

Words: 1174 | Pages: 3 | 6 min read

Works Cited:

• Christie, A. (1939). And Then There Were None. HarperCollins.
• Davies, D. (2007). Murder in the library: An A-Z of crime fiction. Continuum.
• Harris, A. (2018). Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making. HarperCollins.
• Holt, S. (2015). A Companion to Crime Fiction. John Wiley & Sons.
• James, P. (2013). Talking about detective fiction. Vintage.
• Pike, J. (2018). Reading mysteries with Grandma. J&J Pike.
• Stoddard Holmes, J. (2012). The mystery of mysteries: Cultural constructions of crime and detective fiction. University of Kentucky Press.
• Symons, J. (1972). Bloody Murder: From the detective story to the crime novel: A history. Mysterious Press.
• Todorov, T. (1975). The poetics of prose. Cornell University Press.
• Wilson, E. (1945). The motive for murder. Dial Press.

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Comparison of Family of Origin and Child of God

Introduction.

Childhood, family, community, religious or spiritual beliefs, political stances, and other factors influence one’s social environment. Identity and values are shaped by upbringing, including interactions with parents, siblings, and other family members. Despite their significance, they might not be as significant as accepting a biblical worldview and the conviction that one is a child of God. The paper considers how their own families and spiritual traditions have molded them. This essay will investigate how this influences people’s predisposition for secrecy, religious reliance, and strict limits.

A person’s early growth and development are grounded in their family of origin. Personality can be shaped through one’s educational experiences by being exposed to inspiring role models and intellectual debate (Parrott & Parrott, 2012). My supportive childhood has equipped me with a strong sense of identity and the resilience to overcome adversity. Career paths are also heavily influenced by one’s family of origin. My parents’ expectations, ideals, and advice heavily influenced my path to adulthood. They put a premium on making money, so even as a kid, I felt compelled to go into a field that paid well, even if it was not a good fit for my interests and skills. My family was my model for interacting with and comprehending others. The habits of talking things out, making up, and being close that I picked up at home have served me well in my subsequent relationships(Parrott & Parrott, 2012). Family of origin influences may also include ideas and beliefs about marriage, commitment, and gender roles. Compared to being a child of God, a relationship with the Lord emphasizes love, forgiveness, compassion, and honesty. My identity and worldview have been dramatically changed due to this connection. I am God’s child because I am a miraculously particular product of the Creator—a person’s sense of worth, confidence, and belonging all benefit from this realization. In addition, the moral concepts I learn from a biblical perspective help me make decisions and shape my values. For example, the passage in Deuteronomy 32:7-9 emphasizes the value of seeking advice from the past and respecting the knowledge and comprehension passed down to us from our predecessors. It emphasizes the significance of considering their insights and perspectives while making decisions. This ethical maxim reminds me of the value of honoring our history and learning from the experiences of those who came before us.

Impact on Masks, Trust, and Boundaries

In my view, the masks people use to get by in life might be influenced by their family of origin and their spiritual walk with God. Due to pressure from their families and society, many people learn to wear masks to disguise their authentic selves. Conversely, as it values genuine human connection and trust in God’s grace, a biblical worldview encourages honesty and openness. One’s ability to trust in God’s provision, guidance, and constancy can be influenced by upbringing and life circumstances. Happy memories from childhood may bolster trust in God, but painful ones may severely test it. However, people can discover comfort, restoration, greater trust in the Lord, and a more comprehensive biblical perspective.

For one’s mental health and the well-being of one’s relationships, boundary setting is a need. Their family of origin may have shaped one’s conception and use of personal space. Blurred boundaries or difficulties articulating personal limits may result from unhealthy family dynamics such as enmeshment or neglect. However, the biblical emphasis on love, respect, and self-care can serve as a basis for establishing and upholding healthy limits.

Critiquing Responses and Interaction

Maintaining these safe zones requires introspective thought about one’s reactions and exchanges. An individual’s upbringing and religious beliefs have a significant bearing on whom they become as an adult, and each deserves consideration. It is essential to consider how one’s upbringing might have influenced forming and maintaining boundaries while examining personal responses and interactions (Campbel et al., 2020). Someone may find it difficult to set appropriate limits in their adult relationships if they learned to do so as a child in a hostile setting. The ability to recognize these patterns is crucial for locating potential improvement zones.

Setting appropriate boundaries can also be aided by having a relationship with God and having a Christian perspective. Self-care, respect for others, and the pursuit of relational wisdom are all emphasized in the Bible. Aligning one’s behavior and outlook with these teachings allows people to create protective barriers that benefit their health and dignity as God’s children. Setting and maintaining appropriate limits is not always easy, though, so that is something to keep in mind (Fuchs et al., 2021). Obstacles and difficulties can be spawned by a person’s upbringing, individual experiences, and the nuances of interpersonal interactions. Finding someone you can trust for advice, motivation, and accountability is essential, such as mentors, counselors, or spiritual leaders. When evaluating other people’s reactions and interactions, consider whether your personal space is respected and acknowledged. Consider whether or not one effectively conveys and advocates for one’s opinions, values, and needs. By frequently evaluating the state of one’s boundaries, one can make appropriate adjustments, seek reconciliation when necessary, and cultivate healthier, more satisfying relationships.

One’s upbringing and spiritual connection to God significantly impact their personality, career path, social circle, and values. A person’s family life and the relationships they form throughout their early years significantly impact their sense of self and level of maturity. However, adopting a biblical viewpoint and comprehending that you are a child of God positively impacts your character, decisions, and relationships. It is crucial to consider how these factors affect the use of disguises, faith in God, and personal boundaries while assessing their impact. A person’s healthy boundaries, familiarity with early-life patterns, and adherence to scriptural principles can all be gauged through thoughtful consideration of responses and interactions. People can grow, have more satisfying relationships, and honor their identity as God’s children by learning from and incorporating the best of their families of origin and spiritual lives.

Campbell, M. C., Inman, J. J., Kirmani, A., & Price, L. L. (2020). In times of trouble: A framework for understanding consumers’ responses to threats.  Journal of consumer research ,  47 (3), 311-326.

Fuchs, D., Sahakian, M., Gumbert, T., Di Giulio, A., Maniates, M., Lorek, S., & Graf, A. (2021).  Consumption corridors: Living a good life within sustainable limits  (p. 112).

Parrott, L. & Parrott, L. (2012).  Real relationships .

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OpenBible.info Geocoding Topical  Bible Labs Blog

What does the Bible say about ?

A ‣ B ‣ C ‣ D ‣ E ‣ F ‣ G ‣ H ‣ I ‣ J ‣ K ‣ L ‣ M ‣ N ‣ O ‣ P ‣ Q ‣ R ‣ S ‣ T ‣ U ‣ V ‣ W ‣ Y ‣ Z

61 Bible Verses about I Am A Child Of God

1 john 3:1 esv / 9 helpful votes helpful not helpful.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

John 1:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Matthew 23:7-9 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

1 John 3:1-24 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ...

Galatians 4:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Ephesians 3:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Galatians 3:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Amos 1:1-9:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.” Thus says the Lord : “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord . ...

1 John 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

1 John 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

1 John 3:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Colossians 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

Colossians 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Colossians 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Philippians 4:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Philippians 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Ephesians 5:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Because we are members of his body.

Ephesians 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

Ephesians 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Ephesians 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Ephesians 1:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Ephesians 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Galatians 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Galatians 3:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 3:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

1 Corinthians 6:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Romans 15:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Romans 8:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 6:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 6:1-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ...

Romans 1:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

John 15:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

John 14:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Luke 22:42 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Psalm 82:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

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Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles , a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.