The Caveat

The 3/26 verse of the day is Galatians 3:26, "So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (NLT)

I've heard people say that we're all God's children. I can see how one would say this, in that he is the Almighty God who created everything and everyone. But I have to wonder how we can reconcile that to the verse above. In my limited understanding, I detect a caveat in this verse.

A caveat can be described as a cautionary detail to be considered when interpreting something. I interpret this verse to say that we are all children of God THROUGH FAITH in CHRIST JESUS. I don't know about you, but this tells me that faith in Jesus is necessary to be a child of God. I believe this requires action on our part. We don't just get to be children of God. Whether this means children here on earth or, ultimately, in heaven, I'm not completely sure, but if I'm reading it at face value, I have to believe that these words are pretty simple to understand. I don't want to have to wait to see what they mean; I don't want to take my chances; I want to cover my bases and put my faith in Jesus, thereby knowing that I am, indeed, a child of God forever.

Still not convinced. Let's do a further word study. The word "through" means "by way of" and the word "faith" means "belief and trust in". Even if you are the most educated person or renowned bible scholar in the world, I can't see how you could unpack this scripture to mean anything different than just what it says. I thank God for simplicity. I think he knew I'd need that!

I hope you're a child of God. You certainly can be - by putting your faith in Jesus. That's an important detail I'm thankful I considered and acted upon. I'm especially grateful to be a child of God. Thank you, Jesus.