I’ve spent 2023 memorizing Romans 8. Coming to the end of September, I’ve memorized verses 1-32. I’m working on verses 33 and 34. Nearly to the end!

While most of us who read our Bibles are well acquainted with the chapter, especially verses 1, 11, 15, 29, 35, 38 and 39, it was verses 14 – 17 and verse 29 that captured me.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 

Wow! To be a child of God, we must be led by the Spirit. To be a child of God, we must be conformed to the image of His Son. To be a child of God, we have to join the family by believing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Conk! Hand to the forehead. Not everyone is a child of God! Wowza.

Of course, in many ways I’ve known this concept my whole born-again life, but quoting these verses near-daily caused me to assess the depth of my understanding.

Present culture claims that we are all God’s children. But that’s not what Paul writes here. God’s children are led by the Holy Spirit. You cannot be led unless you’re born-again into the family of God.

Jesus is the first born among many brothers and sisters. He was raised from the death of sin and sickness into New Life. When we are born-again — believing Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the World — then we enter that new life and the redemption of His sacrifice.

Romans 8:15 tells us we are adopted into the family of God when we are born of the Spirit.

Certainly God created the world and all of humanity. David wrote in Psalm 139, “You saw my unformed substance.” John 3:16 says that God loves the whole world. How do we know? He sent His Son to die on a cruel cross to pay the debt of sin every breathing human owes.

Romans 3:23: “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We are created by God. We are loved by God. But we’re not all children of God. For that, we must be adopted into the family by being born-again.

Which brings me to this verse in Matthew 5.

 ⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

Ahhh! It hit me. To be called a child of God, we must make PEACE with Him through the Cross. We are blessed when we come to Him in repentance and humility.

This verse is largely interpreted as a horizontal expression—person to person, making peace with our fellow man. And since Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9) then we are ambassadors of peace. Yes, indeed, this verse has horizontal application. But the first application must be vertical. Man to God.

We cannot live in true, lasting, genuine peace outside of Jesus. We must first make peace with Him! Then, as born-again members of God’s family, we will express the attributes of His kingdom. Peace being one of them.

It seems so much of our humanity is walked out in our own strength, but upon inspection, our strength is our weakest link. We cannot walk in love, humility, peace, mercy or any sort of purity of heart OUTSIDE of Jesus. We must be born-again to even begin a true journey.

Oh, how blessed we are when we make peace with God. Because then we are His children.

“Blessed are the peacemakers…”