Romans 9:8

Romans 9:8 - In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children,but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

Once again Paul is explaining how we become children of God. See, in Jewish culture it was thought that if you were born a Jew you were God’s child. If you were not born a Jew you could not become a child of God. They thought that your origin and upbringing were the distinguishing factors. Paul tells us differently. He tells us that it is not enough to be born from Abraham, you must be born into the promise of God.

Abraham had two sons, but only Isaac came through the promise of God to be considered God’s child. That same promise of being a child of God is available to us as well, even though we may not be Abraham’s offspring in the natural sense. Now we receive the promise by faith through Jesus. We are children of God, but it is not by our doing. It is not about where you come from or how you were raised. Faith and a conscience decision to receive Christ as your Savior is what will make you God’s child.

In those days people struggled with their heritage, whether they were born a Jew or Gentile. Today there are many other struggles ranging from where you were born to how you grew up. I want to tell you that none of that matters. God does not care about your past or how you were raised. He cares about you.

God has chosen you and adopted you into His family. Now as children of God we must welcome others into the kingdom by walking in Love. Don’t judge people by where they come from, but Love them according to who they are.