WEDNESDAY: CHILD OF GOD

KEY PASSAGE

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

DEVOTIONAL

One of the most impactful stories in the Bible is the story Jesus tells about the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). It’s a story of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. When Jesus tells this story it is extremely clear that the Father values his son and sees him as his child. Yes, the son was irresponsible, disrespectful, and headed in the wrong direction, but his actions never changed the fact that he was still his Father’s son.

This is the reality we live in with our Heavenly Father. He sees all we have thought, done, and said, but He still calls us Child. Our actions could never turn God away from us. Instead He ran to us like the Father in the story, by sending His son Jesus. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”  We are children of a forgiving God, the life he wants for us is not one of bondage and bitterness, but one of freedom and joy. When you are a child of God you are no longer bound by what you have done, rather your identity comes from who God says you are. You are “Created in His image” (Genesis 1:27); “A Child of God” (1 John 3:1); “A New Creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17); “More than a Conqueror” (Romans 8:37); “A Temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19); and “Redeemed and Forgiven” (Ephesians 1:7).

CHALLENGE

What are you holding onto that you consider your identity? Have you defined your identity by something that has been done to you, or something that has happened because of you? When we belong to Jesus our OLD life is gone and the NEW life has begun. 

Today - Ask God to reveal things that you have attached to your identity that don’t align with who He says you are.