Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (I John 1:12-13)
I
cannot read this passage without at least a whisper of a lie echoing in my
mind. God may have given me the right to become a child of God, but I’m the “red-headed
stepchild” who is endured, barely tolerated, given a seat in the corner so that
those who see me know I’m a child, but also know that among the children of
God, I am the least and can safely be excluded in all but the most literal
senses. I’m exaggerating even my own sense of this at the moment, but this is
the lie, and I don’t think I’m the only one who hears it.
“But
did God really say” you have the right to be a child of God?
“Who
told you that you were…” Pinocchio? Yet another character from a child’s story
comes to the rescue!
One
of the problems we face when we’re trying to learn to live according to God’s
truth is that we don’t even recognize the devil’s lie. There have been times that
I have been depressed for weeks or months before realizing that I’m depressed. Once
I know, I can act against it.
Similarly,
I’ve been hungry for the past couple of hours although I ate lunch. A few
minutes ago, I realized that the problem may not be the need for food, but the
need for allergy medicine!
Other
times, the understanding of the situation doesn’t help all by itself. But
identifying the tactic or the pattern might. It’s amusing how often we fall for
the “But did God really say?” bit or the “realization” that we are somehow
naked or otherwise unacceptable or embarrassing.
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