Who Can Become a Child of God?

Take a moment to talk through your family tree. Make sure to include grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides. If it applies to your situation, talk about other family bonds such as fostering, adoption, blended families or half-relatives. Emphasize that while there may be evidence of brokenness in your family tree (divorce, death, strained relationships, etc.), the Lord still believes in the family and has a plan to bless yours.

I am so thankful for the family God has given us. We’re not perfect, but each person in our family is irreplaceable and important. God has given each one of us a special plan and purpose. God loves to work through ordinary families just like ours.

In Genesis, we learn about the true story of a man named Abraham and his wife, Sarah. God had big plans for their family and He made Abraham a huge promise. Can you help me find the book of Genesis? Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Let’s read Genesis chapter 12, verses 2 and 3. 

God told Abraham the whole world would be blessed because of his family! But Abraham was super old and he didn’t even have any kids! The promise of even one child seemed so incredible that Abraham and Sarah both laughed about it! But God always keeps His promises.

Abraham believed God would do what He said. When God decided the time was right, Sarah did have a baby! They named their son Isaac. Their kids and grandkids, and all the children who came after them became known as the Israelites. Did you know Jesus, our Savior, was part of God’s chosen people, the Israelites, too?

When Jesus was born He fulfilled the long-ago promise God made to Abraham. He is the One from Abraham’s family who came to bless all the families of the whole earth — including ours! Because Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, anyone who believes in Him can become part of God’s family! Let’s read about this in the Book of John. John is in the New Testament and is one of the four Gospels. Can you help me find John chapter 1, verse 12? 

When we accept Jesus’ gift of salvation, we become part of a new family, the family of God. No one is better than anyone else in this family. We are all included because of God’s great love and mercy toward us. We don’t highlight our differences — being Jewish or Gentile, boy or girl, white or black, poor or rich — we are all equal because of Jesus. (Big kids can read about this in Galatians 3:26-29.) 

Within our family, we have the opportunity to live out God’s special plans and purpose, and discover how He wants to use us to love and serve others around us.