Originally published Thursday, 27 December 2018.
“But to all who did receive [Jesus], He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God” (John 1: 12-13, HCSB).
Those who try to find their identity in what they do will always be searching for their ultimate purpose and will never find fulfillment in life.
Why?
Because there is only one position that will ever give you a sense of purpose.
You are a child of God! You are His!
When you receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are then adopted into the family of God. We find this amazing truth in John 1: 12-13.
But sadly, many of us continue to look for purpose on our walk with God, working to achieve His love, instead of just trusting in it. I am extremely familiar with this type of mentality because even after I received God’s forgiveness when I called upon Jesus to be my Savior, I still thought I had to work for that forgiveness to maintain it. Because I didn’t fully understand that my faith in Christ is what pleased God, I tried to perform for God, thinking my talents and gifts were what made me valuable and loved by Him.
Of course, this distorted view of God stemmed from my very dysfunctional relationship with my earthly father. Sadly, because his addiction to alcohol and pornography hindered him from showing me genuine love and affection, I didn’t feel loved by him, and tried all that I could to show him that I was worth loving through my gifts and abilities- High honor roll student, playing clarinet in the marching band, star in the Spring Musicals, Cheerleading Captain, Student Council officer, track star…the list went on and on.
No wonder I was always stressed out and exhausted! But over time, the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me the Father-heart of God. My mind was renewed through the truth of scripture of who God is through the glorious gospel message. The more I studied the gospels, the more I fully received His mercy and love.
Truthfully, God is very unimpressed with your performance, but He is deeply impressed with Christ’s performance. You will find such freedom when you finally realize you can rest in knowing that Jesus paid for your performance and by putting your faith in that, God sees you as His daughter or son and His love for you is never-ending. Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, you can literally do nothing to change that. Embrace the Cross and the Father will embrace you as His child!
Father God, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to not only die for my sins to be forgiven, but to restore me back to You as Your child, the greatest position I will ever stand in!
Read more: Galatians 3:26-4:1-7
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