What does it mean to be God’s son or daughter? It’s vitally important to understand the dynamic status we’ve freely been given in Christ, because without an appreciation for what this relationship encompasses, we are unlikely to move beyond a certain level of spiritual growth. “I realize what it means to be a child of God,” you might again be thinking. But have you really come to grips with the magnitude of this promise?

How often do we stop and think about what Paul meant by saying, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”(Romans 8:16-17). Do you notice the principle of inheritance here? Just as God promised that Abraham would be an heir, we also are heirs of God. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 4:16 that “those who are of the faith of Abraham” are his descendants and therefore heirs of the promise. But in our case the promise is even greater, because what we are to inherit is the fulfillment of that which God planned for His children from the very beginning of time—the promise of “a new covenant”; that of an “eternal inheritance,” as the writer of Hebrews so succinctly states.(Hebrews 9:15) What an incredible opportunity we’ve been handed!

Fellow heirs with Christ? It’s tough, isn’t it, trying to envision ourselves as the heirs of the splendors of all that belongs to God. Can you even imagine? If we could really grasp this truth, wouldn’t it change everything for us? Wouldn’t we just naturally live out our faith in a whole new way—a life of greater focus, a life so much more motivated to “…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called?”(6)