Thoughts From Galatians 3 - Part 3

  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

        As I watch my 4 kids celebrate Christmas with their own children, spouses, and homes, It's a time like none other to see that they have "flown the coop" and established themselves apart from us. Yet it's still fun to see what they have incorporated from their upbringing and made it part of their family's tradition. Toby hid baby Jesus from the manger scene and had a hunt for Him with the finder getting to open the first present, just like we do. Jonathan sat them down and read the Christmas account from Luke, just like he grew up with. The other 2 are not near but we know that they do a lot of similar things. They also all do things unique to their family and different from their siblings. What I'm saying is they are all our children and carry things that identify them with us, yet they are not clones and all act, think, and celebrate Christmas uniquely.

       Paul is saying that when we are saved, we all become part of a family- the Children of God. Note that in John, Jesus says that there are two categories of people in the world - Children of God and Children of the Devil so don't buy into the world's lie that we are all Children of God on account of creation (which they don't even believe in). That only happens through salvation. As Children of God, we start to look like Him. In fact we even clothe ourselves with Him. Yet each of us maintains our uniqueness. Slaves and free all behave like Christ yet still maintain their outside the Church's status. Blacks and Whites don't change colors, just their sin natures for Christlikeness. Men and women retain femaleness and maleness yet still retain their unique giftings. Jews and Gentiles still retain their upbringing and traditions but now look a lot less different because of the fruit of the Spirit being demonstrated.

      The Church wasn't made to be a bunch of clones but it was designed to be a home where siblings come together and celebrate the coming of Jesus. Although their quirks and unreleased baggage may cause some occasional friction, the common name, bond of family and common Spirit of Christ should mold us together into something that the world would marvel at and say, "This could only happen because of something supernatural. They must be Children of God."