All of God’s Children
(Jon Foreman)
Waiting for Love to Give Birth
LYRICS (Click to minimize)
When the things that you can’t hold on to
Are the ones that you wish you could keep
Are you really ready to pay for love
If it costs you everything?
All of God’s children
All of God’s children
Shining underneath
Shining underneath
I believe in a world that’s beyond me
I believe in a world I ain’t seen
Past the glass, and shotgun shacks
And violent, faceless, racist facts
I believe in a world that’s made clean
All of God’s children
All of God’s children
Shining underneath
Shining underneath
Underneath these wars
Underneath these walls
Underneath the bullet holes
I still don’t know who we are
But it’s shining underneath
Oh, I’ve been waiting for love to give birth
New life to show pain it’s worth
I’ve been waiting for peace on earth
Like a newborn child
Oh, like a newborn child
Shining underneath
Is there a well that won’t run empty?
Is there a friend that can’t be bought?
Do you find them when you’re thirsty?
Learn the lesson that can’t be taught
All of God’s children
All of God’s children
Shining underneath
Shining underneath
Source: Genius.com
Songwriter: Jonathan Mark Foreman
© 2015 Rubadub Rublishing Publishing
CCLI License #632898
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)
We live in a world full of pain. One does not have to look far to realize that sin and pain is all around us. We turn on the news each day to new stories of violence. We log on to social media each day to new stories of loss. We receive phone calls each day bearing new stories of sickness and death. A global pandemic has ravaged the world. War is taking the lives of men, women, and children alike. Racism and hate are rampant in both East and West. The Image of God, which was so beautifully imprinted onto humanity, has been disfigured and distorted. It is in the midst of this suffering—the midst of this anguish—that we ask the question: What does it mean to be children of Love Himself?
Many Christians assume that being children of God translates to living carefree lives. After all, they claim that, if God is good, then will our lives not be perfect? However, life does not take long to tear down this misconception. It takes little more than a moment to shatter this misguided faith. It is naïve to believe that there is no pain in the world, whether or not you know God.
Christians are called to live in the midst of both pain and hope; the uncertainty of the now and the not yet. In our hearts, we know that there is eternity, and that there is a day when we will be like Christ. In the meantime, however, we are forced to face the pain of life. But praise God; this pain is not the end but just the process! As the Apostle Paul wrote:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:18-25 (NRSV)
Creation is groaning; this much is true. Even those that belong to the Spirit—the children of God—are part of this groaning. However, we know that this is not the end. To be children of God is to anticipate. To be children of God is to hope. To be children of God is to realize that this labor of pain precedes the birth of love.
Beloved saints, let us live therefore as children of God without fear. After all, Love Himself has been revealed to us! The love of the Father has sent the Incarnate Christ through the power of the Spirit! What else do we need to believe other than the truth—that there is a Love greater than sin and greater than pain? It is our duty to reflect this Love, even in our world of pain. Let us not be overwhelmed by this darkness, but be even bolder in living out Love and living out redemption.
Christian redemption is not naivete. We do not ignore the pain in our lives and in the lives of those around us, but we believe that there is something greater. We should avoid either of two extremes—that of ignoring pain and that of being swallowed up by it, because neither reflects the love of our Lord. Instead, let us be confident in spreading the love of God to our neighbors, so that they too may join in our anticipation of eternity and the presence of Perfect Love. May we, the Church, the bridge of now and eternity, live boldly as children of God!