Children of God

1 John 3:1 (NLT)

See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don't know God, so they don't understand that we are his children.

When I think of this verse, I think about the senior year of my undergrad. Undergrad was not a positive experience. I made wonderful friends and laughed in the midst of many moments there, but overall there was a dark cloud of persecution. I was not Lutheran enough and too female to really battle theology with the presem boys. Worse yet, the faculty and staff cared little abut the character formation of their young leaders. There was, however, a deep concern for obedience and the rote memorization of Lutheran writings. In those days, if I could cross-reference Kolb and Walther enough, I may have actually been heard by another student. There lives within me though a spirit that loves to rebel and in the midst of my all academic faith, I began to wonder about the relational Christ I dreamed of. I read about a Christ who loved rebels and acted radically towards authority. I was drawn to a Christ that loved whores, tax collectors, and Torah dropouts. In emulating such a nature I was typecasted as liberal, reprimanded, and told I would never find a church willing to let me preach about this Jesus.

I wish in those days, someone would have looked at me and said, “God cares more about what is doing in you than what he is doing through you.” God cares more about the state of my heart in leadership than the numbers of youth I reach. In fact, I am bold enough to say that God would withhold my ability to reach and teach others if my heart’s motives were not in communion with God.

In leadership, so often I catch myself crying: “I’m good with God because I’m right.” But, really God could care less about what I’m doing if my identity is not in my relationship with him. I didn’t work to be created or born, I am a child of my parents because of work they did. My identity in Christ is not dependent on my work; it is because of work God has done.