Children of God

This week I will be exploring another aspect of what it means to be human. Last week I wrote about love and freedom of choice. Another part of the answer to the question "What does it mean to be human?" lies in the second book of the Bible: Exodus. In chapters 1-23, we are told the story of how God used Moses to lead the Israelites, God's people, out of slavery in Egypt. This passage shows the importance of following God's commands. As humans, we were created to be God's people, and He our King.
"This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son," (Exodus 4:22). Israel was chosen to be God's people because they followed Him, while everyone else followed false gods. God showed his dominance as the Lord, the one true God, through delivering His chosen people from the clutches of Egypt and slavery. He performed miraculous signs through Moses including, but not limited to, turning the Nile into blood, filling the land with gnats, flies, and locusts, and finally, killing the firstborn son of every Egyptian household. None of these plagues happened to the Israelites. Once the Lord established his sovereignty, Pharaoh eventually let the people go and they escaped into the desert. After a while, Pharaoh decided he'd made a mistake and rounded up his army to go chase after the Israelites and bring them back. They came to the Red Sea and Moses parted the sea with the help of the Lord so that the Israelites could walk across on dry ground. Then, as Pharaoh's army was crossing the sea, God let the waters fall back into place and the entire army was drowned.
While they were walking through the desert, the Hebrews needed food and water. They had many mouths to feed but no food. But they prayed to the Lord and He provided for them with manna and quail (Exodus 16). He also provided water that came from a rock (Exodus 17). The Lord provides for us because we are his people. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1). We are God's children. If we follow him, he will reward us. However, if we go against him, he punishes. Going further, in Exodus chapter 32, while Moses is up on the mountain, the Israelites create a golden calf and start worshipping it. When Moses came down the mountain, God punished the people by having them fight and kill one another and then sending them a plague.
As one can surely see, the Lord rewards those who follow him and punishes those who go against him. As humans we are His children. We are to follow our heavenly Father, and when we do, He will reward us. As you go about this week, I encourage you to act in a way that honors your Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died so that we might have life eternally with him.