Galatians 3:26-28  For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NLT)

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Popular television shows and movies like to talk about God and spiritual matters in vague generalities. Depictions of spiritual matters are either dumbed down to the point that anything goes, or religious people are portrayed as overzealous caricatures bent on legalistic righteousness. This is in sharp contrast to biblical faith. 

Children of God are those who have a real and loving relationship with Jesus. He is the one and only way. (See John 14:6.) 

When people choose to receive his gift of forgiveness for their sins and the promise of eternal life, they put on a new way of living shaped by grace. We become like Jesus. He lives in us and through us. A good question we seek to answer is What Would Jesus Do? 

A better question is What would Jesus do if he were me? What if he lived where I live and had my family, my job, and my recreation? How would Jesus navigate the relationships and family matters that I deal with day by day? How would he do my job? How would he conduct himself in leisure activities? What would his vocabulary include and exclude? 

What makes Jesus laugh? What grieves his heart?

These are good questions worth considering. The answers go a long way toward teaching us how to live with ourselves and others. They direct, and redirect, the choices we make and the habits of mind and behavior we cultivate. 

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I will pursue a deeper understanding of what it means to be a child of God.

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Our Father, deliver us from the vague generalities and crass caricatures of media religion. Empower us instead with true faith that makes us more like Jesus. Build grace and kindness into our lives. Use us to build up others. Deliver us from belligerence. Amen.