Your heavenly Father
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12-13
The born again experience changes our relations with God the father if only because Christ’s death on Calvary atoned for the sins that kept you apart from God. Christ resolved the issue of sin that fulfilled the law by paying the penalty for sin in full. Now God can see you as if you had never sinned and a close relationship can be formed with him. The born again experience however, has two parts for your salvation to be complete.
We have briefly discussed what God will do because the sin issue has been resolved and put to rest. Your part of reconciliation is to recognize that you can not save yourself and that you are hopelessly lost without taking part in God’s plan of Salvation.
Consider this, sin is a crime that violates the laws of the governing authority in the kingdom of God. To protect its citizenry from future violations the same laws demand a system of justice that is compensated with punishment. On earth, man has developed a similar system, but the civil laws of men were designed around man’s need and moral convictions. Man also demands justice for crimes committed against man and those who violate his law are incarcerated for a set period of time.
The major difference is the governing authority we subject our selves to. Man considers the kingdom laws to be religious and moral in nature but can not connect their sin with a crime worthy of spiritual or eternal death. Although they recognize God as creator and sovereign ruler of the universe they refuse God the right to rule over one of the smallest part of his creation, their lives. What is not completely understood by the world is that God is immortal and he will be God trillions of years after the earth is destroyed.
The plan of salvation is God’s way of saving man from being punished in spiritual death. Jesus Christ said I am the way the truth and the life, he is the only way to eternal life. You must accept and recognize Jesus Christ as Lord and the authority of the kingdom of God for the rest of your life. Take this to heart, you have violated the laws of his kingdom and your sin has been atoned for through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. The repentance God wants is to publicly recognize Jesus as Lord.
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10
While you are making this confession, Jesus and the fullness of deity enters your life and you become a new creation.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
As Jesus Christ enters our life, God opens our eyes to the spiritual kingdom and to a new way to live. Because Jesus is in you, you receive a different outlook on life and realize the way you have lived in the past must change. What was right in your former life is no longer acceptable or right in your own eyes. You may not recognize the presence of your heavenly father living in us, but he is gently beginning to nurture and encourage you to live as his child.
What a difference a father makes in our lives. When you were a part of the world the god of this world did not care about your life. He was a person who pointed his finger at you and placed the blame entirely on you. He also wanted everyone to worship him and as long as he obtained his desires he didn’t care who got hurt. He taught you to point your finger at everyone else and pass the blame to your friends. Unfortunately, without our direct knowledge every one of his children became like him.
Even as children of God it is easy to point fingers at everything that is wrong in this world. Our heavenly father reminds us that we are not to live like the world does, but to be holy because he is holy. Holiness reflects your father’s character. He reminds us that no one can rightly point at his faults and if you mimic his way of life who could find fault with your life.
God’s is not out to harm anyone, but his outlook on life gives everyone a hope for a successful life without regrets or a shameful past. From a disposition of love God wants what is in our best interest and teaches us to deny ourselves frequently to serve the needs of one another in love.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. I John 3:10
Love and grace are two attributes of God that stand out among the rest, which all men admire and respect. These two qualities are strengths God wants his children to practice as they grow up to become mature adults. The benefits of these qualities enrich one’s life and raise God’s children’s level of personal dignity. God is building the moral character of his children by teaching them to develop the graces of his disposition, which includes love, courage, generosity, forgiveness and honoring one another. Those graces demand that we forgive, become humble, be teachable and to endure the corruption of human morality. Being God’s child is not easy because it requires discipline to place limits on how we live to achieve a noble life with integrity. In conclusion, morals are the behavior practices originating from an awareness of right and wrong.
The disposition of love demands that you look after those you love. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, what kind of good things will your heavenly father give to you. Consider that you want your children to grow up able to stand up to the perils of life in addition to having a better life than you presently have? God’s love for his children is stronger, but since you are a member of the royal family, more is expected of you. In this life those who are born in a royal family are considered born into nobility when your actions define nobility. God will show you the way to build your life, excelling in a high moral standard that avoid every form of evil.
The problem Christians have is in how we see God’s place in our life. For the Christian that does not appear to grow, God is seated on his throne in heaven. Those who grow in Christ are strengthened by spending time seeking God with all their heart, God’s throne is in their heart. The time you use to know Jesus Christ will be the time that Christ will lead you toward and introduce you to your heavenly father. The bible tells us that Christians live by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Those who live by sight see God seated on his throne in heaven, but those who live by faith knows that God lives in you and has a personal relationship with you.
All of us had an father that raised us on earth and understand that relationship from experience. The relationship we had with our earthly father is only a picture of the spiritual relationship God wants to develop with you. Once you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and asked him to come into your heart, you were adopted into the family of God. God lives within your heart and is raising you to become a respected member of his household.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12-13 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household. Ephesians 2:19
How you see God determines if you obey him. You can see a personal indwelling God living in you or you can see God as the name you address your prayers to. If you see God as your real father, you will obey him from your heart. If we see him as a tyrant ready to use his whip for the least violation of his law we will dread the thought of serving him. If we see him as a loving God that is willing to forgive and encourage you to do your best, we will love him with all our heart. In other words our view of God will either develop closeness to God or encourage us to keep God at a distance.
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