The essence of life

What is the essence of life, the very substance of our existence?

It must be more than mere matter, more than wood, stone and glass. It must be more than light or darkness, gravity or air, blood or skin. Deeper, higher, richer in content than everything touchable, and yet untouchable for our hands.

The things that matter most to us, are shapeless - love, pain, joy, passion, compassion - and yet they shape our souls, express themselves without a clearly defined image, still so undeniably.

Putting God - the Creator and the very essence of life indeed - into a shape, box or frame - is absurd and reflects our human foolishness, puts it on shameless display.

God is beyond - and yet so close. Higher, greater, stronger, holier, more loving, more compassionate, more of everything... and yet His breath flows through us, inside of us... beyond oxygen and carbon dioxide... our spirit already knows this.

It was made to love Him.

God doesn't want employees, but children!

When you're looking at a job advertisement, most of the time the first thing you read is the description of the position. Then you'll find the essential requirements that are necessary to fulfill the role, and without which you don't even need to consider applying.

For some reason, sometimes we do slip into acting like employees towards God, thinking about all the requirements we need to fulfill, especially when we are watching other "super Christians" who seem to "have it all".

Putting it into a job advert form, we could picture something like this:

Description of position: Being a Christian, respresenting God in this world at all times, 24/7, being an embassador of Christ, holy, perfect and righteous in every way.

Requirements:

• Friendly, loving, kind, patient, joyful, humble
  
• Always striving for peace
• Hard-working, praying at all times
• Healing the sick, raising the dead
• Always putting everybody else first
• Preaching the gospel at every opportunity
• Being thankful in every circumstance
• Denying yourself and taking up your cross daily

If you're like me, you'll probably think: I will NEVER meet these requirements perfectly as long as I live on this earth. I don't match up with those high standards, I'm not able, I'm not worthy...

But hey - wait a second:

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...

(John 1:12)

Wow... this sounds good. So much better than being an employee!

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends... (John 15:15)

Amazing, I'm a friend of God? That reminds me that - even in the job world - you sometimes are lucky enough to get a position you don't qualify for, when you have a relationship or personal connections with the boss. And this is how it works with God. You don't get to be His child by "matching the requirements", which you'd never ever meet anyways, but Jesus has made the way so you have the privilege of relationship!

And yes, a boss wouldn't necessarily let His employee come very close to Him and inform Him about all the confidential stuff... But a friend, or a child gets to know all the secrets, and receives insights employees could only dream about!



How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 )

Ok. So - this is what I need to remind myself of. I might not be a perfect child, but I'll make every effort to be a better child every day so Dad is even more proud and happy. But if I do fail, I know I won't get "fired" - because I'm still a child who is loved, and I get another chance!

I'm a child, not an employee! And that's good, really good!

Be who you already are!

There may be times when we feel like we are not performing as well as we think we should.

Maybe, we can't help but think:

"God has done so much for me, but I'm failing so many times... I just don't deserve his forgiveness. I need to do better, try harder, so I'm worth being called 'a child of God'."

But listen, Ephesians 2:8 says: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

You can not earn being a child of God by performing well - it is grace! Pure grace!

You might be a "work in progress", and yes, there might be some things that God needs to change in you - like in all of us - but right now, just as you are, you are a child of God, if you have accepted the sacrifice Jesus made for you on the cross.

So, just stop for a moment and simply BE - be what you are already:

God's child, fully loved.