The Result of Being A Child of God
We are children of God through faith in Jesus. In Romans 8:14, the Apostle Paul tells us that, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (NLT). Being led by the Spirit is a result of being a child of God. Another way of thinking about this is that the evidence of being a child of God is that we will be led by God. How? In what ways? And what prevents being led by God?
In my experience the catch is that I must be willing to slow down and listen. The world, the flesh and our enemy work so hard to convince us that we need to keep moving at the speed of information. We live in a performance-oriented society that values busy-ness. Our focus can be off, and we keep going too quickly to listen carefully. Or maybe the things God wants to change in us create pain when we face them… so we avoid it with activity. Which is it for you?
Jen and I used to have a large Bouvier des Flandres named Anna. She was a big dog and had so much hair that people would literally mistake her for a black bear. She had an intimidating bark too! So, we worked hard to train her to listen to our voice, to obediently walk next to us and to not scare people with her bark. In her early years, we tried a shock collar. I had a button that I could press which would give her a little shock (ever stick your tongue on a 9-volt battery?). One day, we were visiting my parents (who had no fence) and Anna started running full out toward a neighbor with her huge bark at full volume. I pressed the button… to no avail. She merely kept running at full speed, yelping a bit but threatening to eat our neighbor! Her focus was fixed, and I, her master, had a hard time getting her attention.
Thankfully, over time, Anna learned to listen. She learned who was in charge and how to relate to others. She would walk so closely and listen so carefully I could lay her leash over her back as we were walking. I didn’t even have to hold onto her anymore. She would listen to voice commands and thankfully never ate any neighbors! This all happened over time, and in the context of relationship.
Romans 8 tells us that being led as a child of God means we learn to listen to God. And learning to be led by God is proof of being a child of God. He has removed the power of sin, death and the flesh. Paul says we are not obligated to the flesh (vs 12) which means we don’t owe it anything! The ransom price has been paid in full! We are now both free and responsible to set our mind on the things of the Spirit which will result in living according to the Spirit. We submit to God (our new Master) and actively put to death the deeds of the flesh. And over time, in the course of relationship with our loving Heavenly Father and healthy others, we become more like Jesus… proof that we have been led by God.
Are you growing in the Lord? What has He been teaching you lately? How have you seen Him lead you?
