Unconditional belonging, grace and freedom

We are truly the children of God. That is what Jesus taught us. Being one in Christ the Son, we are all children of God. Moved by the Spirit we are all the children of God. The same spirit of being the children of God makes us cry out ‘Abba father.’ It is in the home of the Father the children grow, find their being, welcomed, strengthened when they are weak, healed when they are injured, and found when they are lost. This is the core of Christian life, it had to be the essence of our life. Yet, for some reasons, through history, we were fascinated by sin and guilt, and the entire faith was often framed within a legalistic focus on transgression. This focus tragically obscured the profound, unconditional welcome found in the Father’s home. Perhaps there is a background of the retributive theology of the Old Testament which supports a ransom theology.  If the sin is necessary to explain salvation, perhaps we have understood salvation wrongly. Children-freedom-grace model would have given a much better face to Christianity than the sin-salvation model. Freedom of the children of God is something we need to meditate deeply and grow. It is not something that we need to merely experience but also to ensure where it is not found.