“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
One of the beautiful benefits of being a child of God is that we’re a part of God’s family. He loves us. He provides for us. He forgives us. He even has an inheritance for us. Belonging to God prompts a sense of security and serenity. There is no better place to be than in the family of God. What a blessing it is to belong to God.
In Ephesians 1:13-14 the apostle Paul says God has marked us and sealed us “IN” Christ. Christians should not have identity issues. We belong to God the Father like our children belong to us as mom and dad. He has sealed and marked us as His own. There’s no disowning or disposing of us. We belong to God. We can walk away from God (man, would that be a foolish thing to do!) but God will never walk away from us. It’s like the old saying, “If you feel like you are far away from God – guess who moved?”
We don’t want to sin anymore but sometimes Satan tricks and traps us. It is so awesome that we know we can come back to God and He will forgive us as we confess our sins (I John 1:9). Like the song says,
“So come back to the light, to the love, you will find, it’s been here all along.
So come back to the start, and you’ll find in your heart, that you have always belonged…to Me”
Read Romans 8:1-17. Then listen to You Belong to Me by Grey Holiday. Then live today as an undeserving yet richly blessed child of the Father in heaven.
Romans 8:1-17
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.