Are you a member of God’s household?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
(Ephesians 2:19 (NIV))

Think about this passage for a moment.

When darkness falls and the doors to the home are locked, who remains inside the home when the homeowner turns out the lights? Who relies on the head of the household to provide security and rest?

I don’t know about you, but I have never seen someone who had the lives of family and friends under the safety of their roof leave doors unlocked so that the enemy could attack. By professing a faith in Jesus, we have been welcomed into the household of God. We have been given not only grace and mercy. We have been given a home that is far more secure than anything we can ever imagine. This world is not our home! We must never forget that we are only passing through on our way to a place that the Lord has prepared for us. We are to be citizens of heaven and we are to be called children of God. Human nature is sinful, but most of us love and provide for our children. How much more will the Lord do for us?

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
(Matthew 7:11 (NIV))

Have you ever stopped to truly think about what actually happens when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior? I realize that there is so much more, but the symbolism of these are represented very eloquently in Ephesians 2:19.

We trade being foreigners and strangers with God to being His children.

We trade being children of sin to being foreigners and strangers to the sinful world.

With all that is happening in this world, we must remember to not be a stranger to God. Are you a member of God’s household?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you received adoption to sonship?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
(Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV))

Do you like to live under laws?

Think about that in relationship to what a law actually does. A law, any law, God’s Law, basically says what you cannot do. It also sets out the punishment for disobedience, for missing the mark, for sinning.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 (NIV))

Even if it is worded in a positive tone, the end result still limits you in some aspects. Human nature has always been rebellious when told what we can or cannot do. Think about that in relationship to the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve only had one rule, one law, that they had to obey. They could not eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We all know how that turned out! We have been paying the price for breaking God’s law ever since.

Since we have proven ourselves to be rebellious, God had to give us more laws. After all, we have proven that we can’t be trusted to do the right thing. God created these laws after one or more of our ancestors did something wrong in His eyes. He gave us commandments that tell us how we are to respect Him by not having other gods, by not making images, by not misusing the name of the Lord, and by setting aside one day to rest and be in His presence. He also gave us commandments that tell us how to deal with each other. We are to honor our father and mother. We aren’t supposed to murder. We are to abstain from having sex with someone who is not our spouse. We are told not to steal, and we are told not to lie. We are also told not to long for or lust after something someone else has.

I realize that these laws are intended to be good, for they define sin, but have you ever stopped to consider what heaven is like? It is a place where God’s perfect presence exists. Sin is not present! If sin is not present, there is no need for a law that defines sin. There is no need for punishment to be defined. We will be filled with an amazing peace and an amazing freedom from sin and law! All of this is a gift of grace!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 (NIV))

We will be called sons and daughters of the most high God! We will be co-heirs with Christ!

Have you received adoption to sonship?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Whose son or daughter are you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
(Galatians 4:28-31 (NIV))

Unlike our biological families, we have a choice to make!

We can choose to be a child of slavery to sin or we can choose to be a child born of the Spirit. It has been, and will forever be, our choice. But, it was a choice that we could not fulfill on our own merit if we chose to be a child born of the Spirit.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 (NIV))

Did you pick up on the very simple adoption policy that God put in place so that we could abandon our sinful childhood and be welcomed into a childhood of freedom? All that we have to do is believe that Jesus is God’s one and only Son and accept the grace that is freely given through the ransom, through the adoption fee that Jesus paid to make each of us a part of the free woman’s family. We are no longer a part of the slave woman’s family.

I must do the responsible thing and remind everyone that becoming a child of grace does not mean that you will never face persecution from the enemy and those bound by slavery to sin. We have elected to leave our natural, sinful nature and those who are still bound to sin do not like that we have become children of God. They will do anything and everything to trip us up, to deceive us into turning away from God.

Once again, when this happens, we have a choice!

Each and every day we must consciously make that choice.

Whose son or daughter are you?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you claim to be a child of God?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
(Deuteronomy 8:5 (NIV))

How many parents do you know who will not discipline and correct their children when they do something that is wrong? Most parents have an innate sense of responsibility to raise their children to obey what is considered to be the laws and the socially acceptable practices of the society.

Do you claim to be a child of God?

If you do, are you willing to admit that God will discipline you when the need arises? Just as an earthly parent will do what is right in disciplining a child, then, doesn’t it stand to reason that God, who is the Creator and Father of all, would also correct us out of love?

An earthly father will not discipline out of hatred. He disciplines out of love, knowing that the short period of discipline will result in a lesson learned that will prevent a longer period of suffering or even death. God is the same way. He disciplines those who call Him Father, for He desires to have each of us mature to be Christlike in our life.

Think back on the last time that you felt that you were being disciplined. After passing through that period in your life, do you have the same outlook as when the discipline started? Did the discipline save you from making a much bigger mistake or “sin?”

As the Body of Christ, we should welcome Godly discipline, for it is through this discipline that we are able to mature.

Is God truly your Father, or do you look upon Him simply as a source of magic and a place to turn when in trouble?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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