DD week 2

Have you ever been in a situation where you were proud to be the child of your parents? Maybe hearing someone say, “Oh you’re   ’s kid!” makes you beam with pride. Or maybe you’ve had an opposite experience: you can’t get far away enough from the reputation your parents left you with. Regardless of the reputation our parents started us with, God gives us a new identity in Him—as a child of God. Whether your parents got it right, or whether they were never around for you to get to know them, you have a Father in heaven who loves you and cares for you. When God looks down and sees you, He sees His child. This is the great love that He lavishes on us: a place in His family which can never be taken away. No matter what we’ve done, He views us as His children.

Do you believe that you’re a child of God? If so, pray and thank God for giving you the
perfect love of a Father. If not, who is someone you know that you can talk to, about what it means to be a child of God?

Given the chance, there are probably about half a dozen things we would change right away about ourselves. There are days we’d rather not look in the mirror because we see too many flaws, both internal and external. But in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul tells us we are God’s handiwork. God is at work in us, and He will never give up on working in us to bring about His purposes. Nothing in us, good or bad, is wasted. This is more than just good news, this gives us purpose—a purpose rooted in the work He wants us to do. What are the good works you believe God has prepared you to do?

Today, take a sticky note and write the phrase “Child of God” on it and stick it to your mirror. Next time you see yourself, instead of focusing on your flaws, try focusing on the truth: your Father loves you and made you just the way you are!

How can you tell if someone loves you? Sure, they might tell you, but telling you doesn’t always make it feel true. Why? Because love is best demonstrated through actions. The way we show love for one another is by doing something, not just saying something. Telling someone you love them may mean a lot, but showing someone you love them means even more. God knew how we are wired. That’s why Jesus came to the Earth in the form of a baby, to live, die, and be resurrected again. God was not content with simply saying He loved us. God wanted to make sure the message was clear. You can't mistake someone's love for you when they died to show you. So that’s what Jesus did. People may have told you that God loves you, but if you want to know for sure, look at Jesus. That’s how we know how God really feels about us.

Do you have a hard time believing that God really loves you? What will you do? How can you remind yourself of the actions God took to show His love for you?

It’s easy to identify ourselves as our sin. We tend to think of all the ways we've gotten it wrong when we think about ourselves—messed up, fell short, and will fail again—sinners. But that’s not the identity God attaches to us. Instead, God views us as people who have been set free from sin and are now aligned with Him and His purposes in the world. Instead of serving sin, we serve Him. That doesn’t mean we won’t fall back into the sinful patterns we want to leave behind. But it does mean that they no longer determine who we are, and who we belong to. Once we choose to believe in God and start a relationship with Him, we’re given a new identity as sons and daughters. Nothing we can do will change that, or make it less true. We have been set free from sin’s mastery, given a new name, and a new place in God’s family. Sin no longer defines our identity. We are defined by the grace and love that God freely offers. How would your life look differently, if you truly believed you were free from sin?

Pray and thank God that He offers you freedom from sin, and ask Him to allow you to experience that freedom today.

Have you ever feel far away from God? Not like He’s mad at you, but like He is absent and distant from you. If you’ve ever felt your relationship with God was like one between you and some old, distant relative, you are not alone. Most people have experienced a similar feeling. But Jesus ensures us that even when we feel this way, God does not. Instead, He views us as His friends! Think about that for a second. God wants to be your friend, and Jesus—the person who came to the Earth, lived a perfect life, died to show us how valuable he thought we were, and then rose from the dead—wants to be your friend. We don’t have to approach God like He’s some distant and ancient old guy far removed from the details and concerns of our lives. He’s a friend who is both close by and concerned with our lives. We can talk to Him believing that’s true.

Today, pray and talk to God like He’s your friend. Don’t put on a performance. Just talk like you normally would talk, and allow yourself to grow comfortable in the presence of God: your friend.