Who Told You?

                 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.