I am a Child of God

On Sunday mornings we’ve been studying what separates us from God—fear.

Fear of not being perfect. Fear of being unsettled. Fear of being ordinary. Today we talked about the fear of being useless.

Besides the fear of being alone, being useless is probably my biggest fear.

I’ve struggled with this in many ways. I don’t want to appear incapable because of my disability. I enjoy when people praise something I’ve done, or when someone comes to me to ask for help. I want to be useful somehow as a Christian.

I’ve struggled because I know all of this is pride.

So much conflict.

We studied a story about David this morning from 1 Chronicles 17.

Things were going well for David. He was king. He had rest from many enemies. He had a great house.

So he decided he wanted to do something for God. He wanted to build God a house.

That seems more than useful. It seems noble, doesn’t it?

But God said no.

God reminded David that he, God, was the one who took David out of the pasture and made him king. God was the one who cut off David’s enemies. God was with David, wherever he went.

God didn’t need David to build him a house. He was going to build a house for David.

1 Chronicles 17:14: I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.

David was a sinner, like me. But through him, God established a plan for everyone, through all time. Because of David’s descendant Jesus, we can all be children of God.

Often, I think about how God must laugh at me. I want to be useful; respected; needed. I want to do something significant for God.

He doesn’t need me.

He wants me. He loves me. He wants me to enjoy what he’s given me, all he’s created.

He wants me to be his child.

And we sang a lovely song this morning, “No longer slaves.” It is beautiful; check it out.

I will be away from the internet this Friday, so I wanted to go ahead and share this gift with you early. I’ll try to bring back something fun from the Midwest.