What does it mean to be a child of God?

Hello friends :)

As part of my job this summer working with efy, I got to take some nice long car trips with friends :)
~ fun fact about me ~ 

Sky & Katie :)

I love talking with people. It's seriously my activity of choice, listening and thinking out loud with someone. 

And so on one particular car trip, I got to talking with my friend Sky about the issue we and some other friends have with the oft-taught idea that all girls are "princesses." Certainly, this is true. We know that we are all "children of the Most High" (Psalms 82:6) and I think that this knowledge of who we really are is very important for us all to have, especially teenagers, who seem to struggle so much with self-worth and the source of their identity. However, my worry is that we sometimes stop too soon. "You're a princess!" we declare, never following up with what it means to be a princess.

To Whom then can we look to discover how children of the King really act? Why, Jesus of course! (Seems like He's always the answer, isn't He.) :)

Like His Apostle Simon Peter, we "believe and are sure that [He is] that Christ, the Son of the living God." {John 6:69} There isn't any better example of One who truly is the Son of God, and knew it. So what did He do, this Divine Son of God, when He was here on earth?

He washed people's feet.

He "went about doing good," yet was despised for it. {Acts 10:38}

He "walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead." {The Living Christ}

He came to serve.

As John records,

"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." {John 13:3-5}

In other words, knowing who He was, where He came from, and where He was going impelled him to serve.

This, being a child of God means that you have been called to serve.

As Christ Himself taught,

"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." {John 13:13-15,17}

You are a child of God. The supreme Governor of the universe, the Creator of everything, the all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely loving God is your eternal Father.

What this means is that you can be like Him. You can be good, and pure, and happy as He is. :)

What this means is that you are loved.

And what this means is that you and I have been called to serve. Go, and do as Christ did :)



**for another example of how children of a king behave, go here.** :)

remember who you are

first of all, this.

   

 classic disney, you do me right :) there is all sorts of spiritual goodness in that clip :)

Let's just start with this line ~ Remember who you are.

One thing that's been on my mind as BYU's starting up again is the idea of identity and where it comes from. BYU can be a difficult climate to live in since there are so many people who are better than you at what you're "best at" haha. Everyone there is above average or better, which makes everyone just... average. You may have been the valedictorian/concert pianist/drama star/all-star athlete/funniest/nicest/most spiritual person in your home ward or in high school, but everyone at BYU was "that kid" in high school. Thus, if you've built your identity around what you thought made you special, coming to BYU and having that stripped away can cause a major identity crisis and be extremely difficult.

Thus it becomes apparent that we must build our identities upon something else. Something unchanging, something intrinsic.

Let's look at a story from the Bible of someone who did just that... Joseph in Egypt!

Joseph is an individual who could've very well based his identity on all he had going for him. Favorite son, best-dressed in Canaan, most visionary... the kid was sweeping in the ancient Israelite superlatives.

... Until one day when all of that was taken from him. He was literally stripped of his coat of many colors, taken away from his family, his country, his language... everything that, to an outside observer, made him "him." Yet somehow, he held true to who he was and demonstrated incredible integrity in the face of great temptation.

i feel like Joseph is always making
 this same pose... poor guy ;)

How was Joseph able to hold true and stick to his values even when literally no one around him knew who he was or what those values even were? I believe that Joseph had a proper understand of who he really was, separate from outside conditions. This is how he was able to answer Potiphar's wife with "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

Even when he was thrown into prison and once again had everything taken from him - favorite servant of Potiphar no more - he held true to who he was and thrived even in a prison setting. His actions reflected his knowledge about who he really was. And eventually, after many years, he was able to do great things for Egypt and reunite with his family. {Genesis 37, 39-47}

So who was Joseph? Who are we?

Joseph knew, as we can know, that:

"Ye are the children of the Lord your God." 

"All of you are children of the most High."

 "Ye are the sons of the living God." 

"We are the offspring of God." 

"We are the children of God."

{Deut. 14:1, Ps. 82:6, Hosea 1:10, Acts 17:29, Romans 8:16}

This is an identity that doesn't change. No matter where we are or what our circumstances are, nothing can change our identity that we are children of God, who loves us. This knowledge changes us and affects our every action, as it did Joseph's. No matter where you're going to school, or if you're going to school at all, this identity does not change.

To Simba's protest of, "I'm not who I used to be," Mufasa countered "Remember who you are" - intrinsically and eternally.

You are more than what you have become. You must take your place. Remember who you are - a child of the Most High God, eternally beloved of Him, created in His image :)

:)

Humility --> Excellence? Yes!

Before reading Henry B. Eyring's speech, "A Child of God," I had never really considered the connection between humility and educational excellence.

In his speech, he posits that great learners:

1. Welcome correction,
2. Keep commitments,
3. Work hard,
4. Help other people, and
5. Expect and overcome resistance. 

He writes that knowing who we are - children of God - will lead to feelings of humility, which will in turn give us the power to become excellent learners.

Each of his suggested habits requires humility to implement into real life:

• It takes humility enough to take criticism without feeling cut down; welcoming correction takes humility and self-knowledge above and beyond what's normally expected.
• If we know that we are children of God, progressing to become more like Him, we will make it a priority to keep our commitments, since He does so perfectly. 
• If we know that we aren't perfect, but also that we are children of the most Intelligent Being in the universe, we will work hard further our education. 
• We will help other people, knowing that they are also children of our Heavenly Father. We will have the humility to realize that they have something to offer us as well. 
• We will know that we will experience difficulties, yet none we can't overcome. 

He concludes with this promise:

The way to grow in the faith that we are the children of our Heavenly Father is to act like it. The time to start is now. And if we act upon it, we will be blessed with a humility that gives us the power to learn and the power to serve and the power to rise up to the privileges that God wants to grant us. 

So, that's what I will do. :)