Articles
The Choice of Every Child
“What do you do?” is typically one of the first things we are asked when someone wants to get to know us. Thus, when a person reflects on their identity, usually the first thing that comes to mind is work. Society has taught us that our profession is what determines our value and is the most important part of our identity. However, the soul God gave us is more valuable than our job and how much money we make.
Each person is designed by God to spread love throughout the world in her or his own unique way. Psalm 139:13-16 explains how God carefully and lovingly knitted your soul and body piece by piece. No part of you is hidden from God because you were “fearfully and wonderfully made” by Him (Ps. 139: 14). Note that the Hebrew words for “fearfully” and “wonderfully” are “yare” and “palah”. In the context of verse 139, “yare” means to be awed and “palah” means distinct. Thus, verse 14 is to be read as, “I praise you, for I am awe-inspiringly and uniquely made.” We are made in God’s image and our existence is pleasing to Him. God made all of creation and thought it was good – including you (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25-31).
As a child of God, you must ask yourself, “Am I going to live as my Father in Heaven wants me to?” God wants us to live out these two commands every day in our lives: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Luke 10:27). We start our journey in loving God by being born again with the blood of Christ through full immersion in the waters of baptism (John 3:1-6). During baptism, the child of God is recognizing the significance behind the relationship between creation with the Creator and pledging to forever live apart from the ways of the world.
Loving your neighbor is the continuation of the love God has shown us (1 John 4:7-11). The internal worth of God’s children is based on the goodness God has placed in their hearts. A person’s intrinsic value has nothing to do with their professional identity or net worth. Choosing to abide in the Godly life is by no means an easy thing to do, but when our hearts are truly aligned with Him there will be no shortage of love in His world.
