The Beautiful Security of Being God’s Child - Bravester

20 times in the small 5-chapter book of 1 John you will find an iteration of children of God or Apostle John calling you “his children.”

Apostle John wrote the letter of 1 John to the young church in Ephesus because they were in crisis. False teachers were causing confusion and causing the church to split.

Maybe when you are dealing with false teachers who are trying to confuse you about Jesus, it is good to be told at least 20 times who Jesus sees you to be and that you belong to something that is larger-story-everlasting-that-has-no-end.

Do you need to hear this at least 20 times too?   (Yes.)

Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children. 1 John 2:29

You are claimed and spoken for. You belong somewhere and to someone. We are people of a place. We are people of a person, not a notion or belief system or philosophy but the person of Jesus Christ. This has placement and is not fluid. We belong to someone.

Human approval is fleeting. You need an approval that is secure, like larger-story-everlasting-that-has-no-end secure. I, and you, are a loved child of the larger-story-everlasting-God-who has-no-end.

There are no qualifiers for this. I cannot be more loved if I perform better. I cannot be more free in his grace if I try harder. You cannot earn sonship or daughtership. You cannot cover wounds in money. You cannot pay for resurrection. Those are all gifts. I, and you, are simply loved. We were created in love with love.

The beauty of finding our identity in Christ is that our identity is always secure because it’s not grounded in our efforts, but based on the perfect performance of our Savior who does the work to restore our relationship to him. God has designed for him to do the work to remove our sins from us. This is the work done on the cross. (Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 John 2:1).

We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. 1 John 5:18.

The Bible tells you that you are held securely. Don’t you wish you always believed that? Welcome to imperfect progress. Me, too. You are not alone.

And you know you still have a practice of sinning. So this verse doesn’t seem to make any sense. How can you really be a child of God?

What were the sins you were doing when you were 16? Are you doing those sins anymore? See, there is some growth in you. The work of “maturing you into who you already are” has started and isn’t stopping. This unbeatable sin isn’t in the way of that work because Jesus took care of that sin. This is your imperfect progress.

Understanding just a bit that God designed for Jesus to do the work to remove our sins from us, you have a brave choice to make: You can focus on your behavior or you can focus on your identity in the larger-story-everlasting-God-that-has-no-end.

Hence it is one step forward, two steps back until it becomes two steps forward, one step back. You are always a child of God. You are claimed. God did the work to claim you. You made the decision to surrender to God.

What do you miss about being a child?

• The wonder of discovering something for the very first time.
• Believing magic was real and anything was possible.
• Not paying bills.
• The safety of someone else taking care of the big problems.
• A bedtime story whispered just for you.
• Crying without shame and being comforted quickly.
• Being praised for the smallest achievements, like drawing a picture.

Write down what you miss. Take a lingering moment to really remember. Remember the nostalgia, the simplicity, the trust. Do you feel warmth in your soul?

This is a big reason why being called a child of God fills that ache in our souls.

To be a child of God means we are wanted. It means we are carried when we are too tired to walk. It means we are delighted in, even when our efforts are small and imperfect. Children don’t question if they matter to their parents, they simply live in the assurance that they are someone’s beloved.

To experience God’s love comes through your vulnerability of trusting God. Look at receiving God’s love vulnerably as the hands and arms of a child extended in trust.

I invite you to read 1 John again particularly noticing those verses about being a child of God.

But what happens if a trauma, especially in childhood, makes it almost impossible for you to extend your hands to God in trust? I notice you. There is healing for you. You are still claimed and spoken for.

I asked our son Kenneth about this identity of being claimed by God as a child of God. And also about being claimed by others like how John and I have claimed him as our son and have now gone through 27 years of prison with him (that’s a good story). I asked him if this has helped him in making decisions.

He said absolutely. When he was younger he thought his decisions were only his decisions and only affected him. But as he grew and learned more about God and appreciated belonging to someone (besides his mother) he realized his decisions affected us too. This has helped him endure 27 years of prison time and accrue good time for his upcoming early release (!!!!!!).

To trust that you are held securely triggers your trust issues. The idea of loving God vulnerably further freaks you out. Hence we try to earn this love by being a good boy or good girl. Your imperfect progress is a mess of earning and exhaustion.

Worthiness is your birthright. You have the dignity as a child of God. This has never been in jeopardy.

Now to read this again because these words are hard to believe. And true. (You may need to read this 20 times.)

“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” –Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child