“That you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:45)
Expanded Passage: Matthew 5:31-46
“If I could only be like them.” How many of us have said this about someone we respect and admire? For me, it was people like my dad and several of my professors. It was enough simply to be like these role models God placed before me.
Similarly, Jesus taught it was enough to be like his Father. Indeed, this is the goal of loving our enemies: to be God’s children—in other words, to be like him. Jesus knows that the Father himself is self-giving love, so Jesus simply does what he sees the Father doing. Jesus models how to be a child of God, by loving as the Father loves and willingly giving himself, even for his enemies. This sums up the heart of all Jesus’ teachings in this sermon: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
Christ’s holy, self-giving love always goes first. It does not wait to be sought out but is offered freely and without distinction. Christian love, working through faith, holds fast in fidelity, spurns honor for humility, speaks truth in integrity, and forgives all with equality. If the kingdom of God is also the family of God, then self-giving, boundless love is how we show ourselves to be part of that family, to be children of God—those who bear his image and reflect it to the whole world.
Make “being God’s child” your goal for everything in your life.
Noah Cromer is, first, God’s child; second, a husband and father. He gladly serves at Southern Wesleyan University in residence life and as an adjunct professor.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
