Do you believe that you are a child of God?
If so, on what basis do you hold that belief?

The Bible does not teach the commonly held view that we are all children of God regardless of our beliefs, nor that we are all thereby brothers (or sisters) of each other. To believe otherwise is to be mistaken.

What the Bible does say is that, until we are redeemed by Christ, we are the “children of wrath” (Ezekiel 20:21; Ephesians 2:3).

Romans 9:8 puts it very clearly: “In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”

In Romans 8:14-17 it is written “…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Likewise, the Apostle John in his first epistle writes to the “children of God” (meaning believers in Christ) to assure them of this very special relationship conferred on them through the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, in their obedience and faith in Christ.

And the words near the beginning of the New Testament also put it very plainly: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received 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.” (John 1: 11-13)

Sacred scripture teaches that God has only one son, Jesus, who is begotten from the the very beginning of all eternity, plus sons and daughters who are adopted through their redemption in Christ. The rest, although His creatures and made in His image, are not His children.

The error in referring to all mankind as “children of God” is found in the idea of the universal fatherhood of God based on the fact that He created us all, that we are all His creatures and His image-bearers. Then the argument for the universal brotherhood of man naturally proceeds from that idea. A wrong assumption is made. Our creation and image-bearing is not the basis for this special relationship.

Although not Biblically supported (as I have shown above) this idea based on a wrong assumption has been given popularity as the world became a global village through the greater accessibilty of travel and communication, the need to foster peace among dissimilar cultures, and a sudden interest in comparative religion with universities offering indepth studies on such. These are secular considerations that have affected the interpretation of Scripture. The well-meaning and often uncritically thinking, or the thinking ones who subscribe to more liberal theologies, including those who belong to secular organizations that foster such an ethos, are happy to let this idea go unchallenged.

I raise this point because I hear Christians including non-Christians as “children of God” but even more especially, implying brotherhood on that mistaken basis. We may certainly be brothers and sisters if born to, or adopted by, the same natural parents, and depending on the anthropological system of kinship in a given culture, but some care needs to be taken not to give the wrong impression to non-believers that we have the same relationship with them, and they with God, as we do with those who are “in Christ” and are the truly adopted sons and daughters of God. To do so is to teach something other than what is written in sacred Scripture.

There is a little story that is currently popular on the blogosphere and it goes like this…

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

The next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember — when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage and help one another.

Where I first came across this little story (the author said to be unknown, by the way) it was followed by a prayer which we were encouraged to pray. That simply highlighted my first reaction to the story. Meant as a gem of wisdom, the story carried a wrongful assumption which undermined the message it was intended to impart.

Do you see what I see?

The chicken and the cow may have done nothing, but I thought the writer said that the pig prayed. That is nothing? Well, doesn’t that show how much value the story gives to the power of prayer! What’s the bet that, had the pig not prayed, it may have been the mouse and not the venomous snake that got caught in the trap? Maybe, because the pig prayed, the mouse got to out-live all his farmyard associates. Never underestimate the power of prayer.

But why bother with the prayer that followed if you went along with the story as it is written?

A treat in store is coming up for those who live nearby, or can make the journey. There is a lot of talent around, and some of it is due to be on display in NZ’s capital city very soon.

Meanwhile, I have added another couple of quilts to my own small gallery here.

The gorgeous blue cat quilt was made for me by a friend. She gave it to me when we stayed with her, and her family, in Greenwood, Indiana. My friend is a prolific quilter, far more so than I. And her work is testimony to all that practice she has got from the great many quilts that roll off her sewing machine. She is very clever, and also very generous, giving away so many quilts and quilt tops that she makes. No guessing that we both love the colour blue… and purple… and quilts.

The “Second quilt” is the second one I ever made, created from left-over scraps from the first one I ever made. That was 17 years ago now, but it took all that time to get around to finishing it! Shame on me. But then I had already confessed that I am not as prolific as my friend.

While holidaying in the States recently we came across a great many yard sales, especially along the length of one particular highway in Indiana. Folk had set up tables outside on their property boundary with the road, and those tables were laden with… STUFF. All kinds of stuff. Much of it was trash (in my eyes) but I am well aware that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. People were busy fossicking for treasure and there was much trading going on. It seemed that no-one could actually throw anything away, not even if it was broken, had parts missing, was filthy and barely recognizable for what it was supposed to be. Honestly, would you buy somebody’s partial denture? What for? Well, I kid you not… there were even some old false teeth on sale! Baldly grinning plastic choppers! Yard sales are also an exercise in reclycing, and I can just imagine many of those items that were traded soon turning up on the table of someone else’s yard sale. This STUFF, besides occupying entire garages such that the car must remain parked outside in the driveway, is clearly for passing around.

But what does STUFF and quilts have in common? Well, if any of you are quilters, or if you know of a quilter, you will know how good these folk are at acquiring and storing a certain kind of stuff… fabric! Fabric to a quilter is the equivalent of a painter’s palette. We must have every colour, texture, pattern, design under the sun… a rainbow selection of it in every closet, under every bed, tucked into this space, and into that space. Quilters are often collectors, specializing in their own particular STUFF of which they seldom have enough.

Well, I did get to see my Hoosier friend’s wonderful collection piled high in one room, not even surreptitiously hidden away anymore but boldly on view to remove any doubt that she is a “true blue” quilter. Such collections seldom get put out on tables at roadsides. We will share with other quilters, maybe trade pieces among ourselves, but this STUFF is wanted. It is loved. It is needed. It is the stuff of dreams… of all those quilts yet to be created.

Every so often I feel the need to travel more lightly on this earth. There are times when possessions become heavy and oppressive, even overwhelming. There is definitely a feel good factor in living more simply, going with less rather than more. All those yard sales brought it home to me again, and with today being the first day of Spring… a little spring-cleaning with the idea of sorting and giving away is back on the agenda for me.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 6:19-21)