To be part of the family of God means having God as your Father. Most people think that God is the Father of everyone. However, Scripture teaches us that this is not the case. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, all mankind has been born in sin and therefore alienated from God (Psalm 51:5; Ephesians 2:12; 4:18; Colossians 1:21). While God is the Creator of all, He is not the Father of all. Only those who through the powerful working of the Spirit of God believe upon and receive Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for their sins are reconciled to God and adopted into His family (John 1:12–13; Romans 5:10; 8:15–17; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:4–7). The only way to have God as one's Father is to have Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior (John 14:6; 1 John 2:23).
To be part of the family of God means knowing and experiencing the love of God. To be able to call the only eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe "Father" or even "Abba" is one of the greatest blessings of what it means to be part of God's family. It means that the wall of sin and hostility that separated us from God has been demolished by the cross of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:15). It means that we are now at peace with God and can experience the full breadth, length, height, and depth of His love (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 3:17–19).
To be part of the family of God means having your needs met. Those who have God as their Father have access to Him in prayer (Hebrews 4:16). To communicate with God and to be able to bring our requests directly to His throne of grace is a privilege known only to those who have become part of His family through faith in the mediatorial work of Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). Further, God has given us everything we need, not only to live, but to live godly lives (Matthew 6:31–33; 2 Peter 1:3).
To be part of God's family means having a large and loving family. Those who have received Jesus Christ have Him not only as Lord and Savior but also as elder brother (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 1:5). Although some believers have had to leave or have been forsaken by their blood relatives because of their faith in Christ, they have received a hundred times as many brothers and sisters in Christ (Matthew 19:29).
To be part of the family of God means having a purpose in this life that has eternal significance. As part of God's family we are given spiritual gifts that we can use to grow and strengthen the family, which is the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). As members of the family we have the duty and privilege to extend the invitation to others to believe in Christ and become members with us (Matthew 28:19–20).
To be part of the family of God means having an eternal inheritance. Unlike a temporal material inheritance that some children receive from their natural parents, believers in Christ will receive an imperishable, unfading, eternal inheritance from their Father in heaven (Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 1:12; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:4). Those who have received Christ and can therefore call God "Father" will inherit eternal life in a resurrected body on a new earth (Philippians 3:20–21; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). The crown jewel of this inheritance will be the eternal delight of dwelling in the presence of and in loving fellowship with the Lamb of God, the Light of this World, and the Lamp of the World to Come, Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:22–23).
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