405 ▸ Pediatrics

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.  (John 1:12 NLT)
 
You did not choose me; I chose you. And I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. (John 15:16 NCV)

“The child is not your only patient,” the pediatrician proclaimed as he spoke in a class about youth sports injuries I attended many years ago. I’ve never forgotten that statement. What did the physician mean? He was expressing that a child and his or her parents are united and, in the world of healthcare, you can’t care for a child without also remembering to keep the parents in the care loop. They are responsible for that child-patient. That is, parents and child are woven together; they’re a package deal.

So, how does a youngster get the right to be called a child of his or her parents? I think there are only two ways: either the parents choose to be physically intimate (or use in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination) so that an egg and a sperm have a chance to connect, or the parents choose to adopt the child. How else could it happen?

Let’s take the discussion to a spiritual realm now. In John 1:12 it looks at first glance like we—the children—get to choose God as our Father. However, that’s not the way it works. A verse that comes later in John—15:16 to be exact—makes it clear that God is the control valve. He chose us, not the other way around.
 
Presented with God’s choice, we then have the opportunity to believe and receive all that He did for us on the cross. With that act of sacrifice, our Father expended a huge cost to allow us to be His children. Big sacrifices are what earthly parents do for their children, too.

Remembering this relationship will encourage you today: you have the right to be a child of God. Believe and receive. You, the child. God, the Father. You’re woven together…you're a package deal. And what a great package it is!