Children of God

We all come from someone. We all have a mother and father, though sometimes we may be estranged from them. As adults we remember what it ‘was like’ being children. I think maybe that is why we don’t understand what it means to be children of God.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesos and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose.

Ephesians 1.1-9

In today’s letter from Saint Paul to the Ephesians we are reminded that God destined us from the beginning to be His children. You might wonder why I say we don’t’ understand our role as His children. It is because as fallen human beings, as parents, we all fall short of the role.

Saint Paul tells us that we have our redemption as God’s children. We have His forgiveness. We have His wisdom and insight. The problem is many of us never received those things from our parents in the fullest possible way. It wasn’t our parents’ fault. We all fall short.

It is why I am always hesitant to compare our relationship to God with our human relationships. Every one of them is ‘damaged’ by sin. So instead of comparing them, I will invite you to transform them. Repair them to be more like God’s relationship with us.

As children we hid from our parents when we misbehaved. We never understood how they knew we were the one who broke the lamp, until we were parents. We hid because we were afraid to be punished. Because our parents knew the truth, we received a greater punishment.

It isn’t the same with God. He already knows what we did, but He doesn’t ‘force it out of us’ to get to the truth. He patiently waits for us to come out of the shadows. Then, through Holy Confession, He forgives us and helps us avoid repeating the sin.

God is always trying to help us out of our sin. He is always trying to restore us to glory in Him. Unlike our human parents, He is not fallen. He never falls short of being our Good Father. So, we can stop hiding from Him. We can come out of the shadows. We can be forgiven.

Today is a new day. It is a new opportunity to transform your relationship with God. Stop seeing God through human eyes and sin. Start seeing God as the perfect Father that He is, wanting to forgive you and redeem you.

I know you might be afraid, but God won’t hurt you. I know you remember what it was like being punished, sometimes even beaten by your human parents, but God won’t beat you. God loves you more than we know how to love. Take a step out of the shadows and see God, Our Father.