Identity

I am a Child of God.

I don't feel like one right now, but that's who I am.

Life sucks sometimes. People do dumb things around us, people do dumb things to us. And we do dumb things too. Sometimes really dumb things. We feel insulted, abused, depressed, weak, fragile, like a failure, too weak to carry on.

But that doesn't affect the fact that we are God's children.

Adoption is one of the most beautiful things in the whole world. I have seen the beauty of it in so many ways: serving at Royal Family Kids camp, and seeing some of those kiddos getting forever homes; listening to some of my favorite musicians tell of the life-changing power of their own stories of adopting children or being adopted; being with one of my cousin's and his family, as he was adopted by my uncle many years ago and is now as much as Stanley as any other blood-relative.

The thing people forget about the legality of adoption is that these kids are not half-children. They are, in the eyes of the law, as much a child of the parents as the blood-children. Once you are adopted, you are adopted.

But what is most often forgotten is that God has adopted us in the same way.

The world will tell us that we are worthless, insignificant creatures who will one day be long forgotten. And even though we know the truth about our salvation being by grace, we can so easily give into this lie that what we do determines our destiny.

I know I do. I try to rise above and be something, something more than what I can be in my own capacity. I see the brilliant plans God has for me, and I get so excited and joyful because of my God-given potential.

And then I fall flat on my face. I know that I do not have to surrender to the mistakes or the temptations, but I do. It therefore becomes so easy to submit to the notion that my identity is based in my failures.

But the truth is that I am not worthless, I am not a failure. I make mistakes, but that doesn't affect my salvation, because it cannot change who I now am: a child of God.

Do our mistakes have consequences? Absolutely. We can be saved and yet chained to our mistakes in such a way that it derails the realization of some of the callings God has for us. And since the world is watching, our lives should resemble Christ's as much as possible.

But regardless of this, we are still sinners. We still screw up and we still feel like piles of manure. To some extent, this is unavoidable. And before you yell and scream that since we're Christians we should only strive for holiness, please look at yourself and review how well you've hit the mark. Because even if you are living the holiest you can, you will still find the sludge in the corners that may prove more influential than you think.

But that is the miracle! That is the hope! God wants us to live perfectly holy lives, but He doesn't expect us to live perfectly holy lives. If we could, we would never need a sacrifice. It is the fact that we are still sinners that created the need for Jesus to die in our place.

The Bible says that Jesus died "once for all." Do you know what that means? It sounds really crazy, but it means that He has died for all of our sins forever, every sin that ever will be committed by anyone. And all of those sins are all forgiven already. (Proof)

But it is in the rejection of who Jesus is and the rejection of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that cannot be forgiven, or put another way, has not been forgiven. Jesus cannot forgive the error that causes a person to not believe.

So how can that sin be forgiven? By believing and accepting who Jesus is! Then the sin no longer exists in your souls. The unpardonable sin is not a sin that one commits once and dooms them forever; it is living in the state of disbelief. Once belief exists, the disbelief is thereby broken.

And that leads us to the understanding that all of our sins were known to Jesus when He died on the cross. He took on all the sins that have ever been committed and allowed the Father to pour out the required judgment on Him instead of us (or, He poured the judgment out on Himself, depending on the lens by which you are seeing it).

So, therefore, our sins are forgiven. But what if it ended there? We would still have no hope. Thankfully, Jesus is alive, and the Father has now adopted us into His family. (Did you know that we should also view Jesus as our brother? Crazy sounding, I know, but it's true. Because we are the children of God.)

No sin ever can change that. This should bring us the greatest hope of all. God doesn't just think of us positively, or even highly. He loves us and desires us and seeks after us. When we fail, He is there to forgive, cleanse, and show us the way to holiness. He knows we will sin, it doesn't surprise Him. It doesn't cause Him to detest us. Instead, He wants us to live in holiness, and made a way for that through His sacrifice.

So today, whether you are living in full integrity or feel like you are one mistake away from dissolving into a could of dust, take heart: if you believe in Jesus, you are a fully legitimate child of God. And nothing you can do can change that.