Status and titles are very important to many people! Their whole existence is built around their profile in society. In the army you get different ranks, and you hear many tales about how the people with higher ranks prefer not to mix with the people with the lower ranks. At universities you get doctors and professors. Yes, some men's wives prefer to be addressed as Mrs Doctor because of her husband's title. Not to mention the Mrs Reverend and Mrs Pastor, which is prevalent all over the place. Fortunately, there are those who loathe it. To cut a long story short, titles and status are terribly important to many people - simply too important.
However, there is one title that no one can take away from you: child of God. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Redeemer, God gives you the right according to John 1:12 to call yourself a child of God.
Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – NIV
It is a right that God Himself gives you and therefore no one can take it away from you. This is also not a title you have worked for or earned through achievement. No, Jesus earned it in your place on the cross. It is through his merit that you can call yourself a child of God. It’s actually a gift to you.
But there are very many other titles and names God gives you when you are His child. Another one you read about in 1 Thessalonians 5:5:
You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. – NIV
Someone once explained it so beautifully when he said that there is not really such a thing as darkness. His explanation was that darkness is simply the absence of light. You can walk into a large dark hall and barely see your hand in front of your eyes. Just light a match and immediately there is light in the hall. Or better still, light a candle and you can see where you are walking and where you are moving. It's staggering what the presence of a little bit of light can do in a large dark place. A flashlight's small light in a dark field is another example of the power of light.
Yes, light dispels darkness! Even if you are the only one in a sports team who serves the Lord, you can let your light shine so brightly that it dispels the darkness. You can be the only Christian in a place and your light can dispel the darkness. So, remember the status that God gives you as a child of light!
Felix Adler sums it up nicely:
The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.
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