When you were a child you probably said, after someone “put you down” or called you a bad name , “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me”. Then later on at night when you were about to go to sleep, thoughts kept coming into your mind like, “am I really like that?”, or “maybe I really am a dummy after all”. What was happening was that the words “that would never harm you” were, in fact, starting to harm you. They started to diminish your self-image and you started thinking that maybe God didn’t care for you all that much either.
Well, I have good news for you; Good News Worth Reporting. God does care for you more than you will probably ever know. Here’s some proof from his love letter to you, the Holy Bible, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with and everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3) Just in case you prefer a quote from the new testament filled with “better promises”, try 1st John 3:1, “behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…”.
You may be thinking by now, “Hey, wait a minute, I thought these letters were about the promises of God. Where’s the promise here? Don’t promises require me to do something and then God does something in return?” Well, yes and no. Here’s Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary definition of the word, promise: a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified.
God is so loving and good that many times he just unilaterally does things or says things about us without our having to do anything. That’s the case here. God just declares that He loves us whether we love him or not and that there is a time in our relationship with him that He will call us sons. (In using the word, son, He is not discriminating against women. God is not talking about gender here. He’s talking about an example of a relationship as between a loving father and his son.)
So, now you may wonder, “How do I become a son?” I thought you would never ask. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”. Yes we all need to be led by the Spirit of God. Sons inherit everything the father owns and with God that’s pretty much everything worth having. Sonship is a whole new area of study. Let’s leave that for a later date.
God Bless,
Glory to God,
Hal Mitchell
Halmitch@cox.net
P.S.
If you are in doubt as to whether you qualify for the promises of God or for being called a son of God just go to Rom. 10:9,10 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Having believed and confessed these verses you will be assured that God’s promises indeed belong to you.
