Post 34: God, Our Heavenly Father
Image: Gather holding his son on his shoulders with the sun shining in the background. The words "God, Our Heavenly Father" and "bytesofsalvation.com, June 2026" are shown on the image.
Summary: In this short post, I talk about God being our Heavenly Father, and how we become children of God. I also shout out my earthly father and offer thanksgiving to my heavenly Father!
God, Our Creator and Heavenly Father
As a fairly new born again believer in Christ (approximately 2 years and 4 months as of this writing), I am coming to know a bit more about God day by day. There are many verses in the bible that speak of God as our ultimate creator but one of my favorite verses is Psalm 100:3, which reads:
"Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."
This verse is very comforting to me because it reassures me that God created us to belong to Himself, therefore our lives belong to Him. Further, it likens us to being "the sheep of his pasture" indicating that He is our shepherd. As a good shepherd leads and cares for his flock, so too does God our Shepherd lead and care for us, His sheep (Psalm 103:13, Matthew 6:26).
Another amazing verse that that speaks to God being our Father and one who is intimately involved in His creation is Isaiah 64:8, which says:
“And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.”
I love this verse because it shows God's sovereignty in the creation of humanity, and the intentionality and intimacy in which He made us.
How we become God's Children
Our first birth, our natural human birth, is one of being born with a sin nature which was passed down as part of a curse when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Because we are born into sin, we come into this world as children of wrath and disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Just as we are born physically into a human family, we must be born spiritually into God's family through the Holy Spirit. In John 3:3, Jesus speaks of this "new" birth when he says to Nicodemus, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again'". Here, Jesus is saying entry into the Kingdom of God requires an entirely new, heavenly nature.
According to the Bible, becoming a child of God is a spiritual rebirth that happens when you believe in and accept Jesus Christ as your savior who died on the cross to pay for all of your sins (1 John 2:2).
In John 14:6, Jesus Himself says:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
In this verse, Jesus is declaring himself as the physical and spiritual path to God the Father. He also says that He is the embodiment of truth, which opposes deception. He is also claiming to be the source of eternal, spiritual life. Jesus ends this statement with "No one comes to the Father except through me," indicating that salvation and access to God are available only through him.
The moment you believe on Christ for salvation, you are born again and given a new spiritual nature that is born of God. 1 John 5:1 states:
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well."
Coming to faith in Christ as your savior reconciles us to God (Colossians 1:20), and in reconciliation, we are given the right to become God's children. John 1:12 says:
"But to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God".
To become a child of God, you must personally believe that you need a savior and that Jesus is that Savior, placing your trust in who He is and what He did for you on the cross. The believer in Christ has their sins paid for by Christ's blood (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22), and are guaranteed eternal life in Heaven with God (John 3:16, Philippians 3:20).
If we die without having the payment Jesus made for our sins applied to us through faith in Him, we lose our chance to become a child of God. Becoming a child of God by faith in Christ is the only way we can escape the condemnation to come, where unbelievers (John 3:18) will be eternally condemned to suffering, torment, and unquenchable fire in Hell (Matthew 25:46, Revelation 21:8).
The bible says we all have this sin problem (Romans 3:23) and the wage of that sin problem is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus took God's wrath against sin in our place on the cross (Isaiah 53:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21), and so made the only payment for our sins that God will accept. Only through faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins can a person be reconciled to God, and it is through this reconciliation that we are made right with God and given eternal life. This is the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ!
Message for my earthly father
I thank God that He gave me a loving father in you, Pop. Although you were not there as much as I would have liked growing up, I am thankful to you for being there when you were there and for all you've done for me in this life.
In the few gospel texts and conversations we've had, you've mentioned that you don't really believe you need saving. I sincerely pray that you would turn from that way of thinking that deceives you. I pray that you would come to believe in Christ as your savior so that you can have the only acceptable payment for sins applied to you and thereby escape God's wrath that is coming on the unbelieving world!
I love you, Pop! And much more than I ever could, God loves you, and demonstrated His love in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins!
Thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father
I thank you, O Lord, for all that You have done for me, from my human birth (Psalm 139:13), to my spiritual rebirth! I am so grateful for the gracious gift of salvation that comes only through Your Son Jesus! Thank you for sending Your Son to die in my place to save me from my sins! I truly do not have sufficient words to thank You for the amazing gift of salvation and eternal life through Jesus! AMEN!