The Right to Become

There is a difference between sneaking into a house and being given a key. Many of us relate to God as trespassers, always half expecting to be caught and told to leave. We come to him after a fall the way you would return to a place you know you are not welcome. John describes something that undoes this posture. He writes, But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That word right is striking. It is not a favor granted grudgingly; it is a standing, an authority to belong. When you received Christ, you were not put on probation. You were given the right to become a child of God, and rights are not revoked because you had a bad night. Notice too that word become. God is not finished with you. Being his child is both a settled fact and a thing you are still growing into, and the growing does not threaten the fact. You are learning to live as who you already are. If you feel like an intruder in your own faith today, remember that you hold a right that was given, not earned, and that no fall can hand it back. Come in. The door was opened to you on purpose.