The right to be a child of God

Sunday January 16, 2022

He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. John 1. 11, 12

The right to be a child of God

Jesus came to his home, in the midst of his people Israel. Many centuries before, he had been announced as King, as the Messiah. From his birth, the Jews and men in general did not receive him. His holy life, his humility, his words of grace, just and true, his very presence, contrasted with the evil actions of his contemporaries. Instead of rejoicing in the good news Jesus was spreading, they urged the occupying Romans to put him to death as a malefactor. Not only did they reject the One who, out of love, had come from heaven to live among them, but they nailed him to a cross after having covered him with outrages.

He whose power was infinite, who had performed so many miracles, could he not have defended himself and annihilated those who laid hands on him ? Certainly ! But Jesus accepted to be nailed to the cross, because he knew that he had to suffer the divine punishment in our place. God could then grant mercy, forgive the repentant culprit, and make him his child. Jesus was not received by his people. But "to all who received him, he gave them the right to be children of God", with the happy consequences of this relationship with the Father. "See what love the Father has shown us, so that we may be called children of God !" (1 John 1.3).

Just as a newborn is registered with full rights in the civil registry of his birthplace, the new relationship which unites the believer to his heavenly Father is recorded in heaven in the "Book of Life". Is your name there ?

Source (The Good Seed)