A Member of the Family — A LifeWords Devotion

Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called “children of God”—and that is not just what we are called, but what we are. (JBP)

Our feelings can so often affect our faith. And we can’t just simply dismiss those feelings as if they don’t matter. They are part of our life and reveal significant things about ourselves. We do need to bring them before our ever understanding God and allow him to help us make some sense of them.

And yet we must not let those feelings dictate to us or allow them to distort the reality of our situation. For example, I am a child of God because I trust in Jesus to put me right with God. And so I am a member of his family and can call him ‘Father’. This is true irrespective of how I feel about myself or about God.

Just as a child in an earthly family still belongs to that family even though they may feel isolated or mistreated. The child’s feelings matter and may reveal much, but they don’t negate the sheer fact of being part of that family.

I may feel distant from God; I may turn my back on him; I may do things that displease him. But I remain a child of God. This is no cause for complacency but it is a cause for realising my membership of his family does not depend on how I feel about God but how God feels about me. That he loves me and calls me ‘child’ however I feel.

Blessings
David