A Knight to Remember
Bible Reading: Romans 1:16-17
This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. Romans 1:17
It’s totally your teacher’s fault. If she hadn’t forced you to write an essay on “What I Want to Be When I Grow Up,” it might never have occurred to you how cool it would be to be a knight. But now you’ve decided you want to be called Sir Cheese Head-or whatever your name is. You want everybody to bow when you walk into the room.
So you log on to the Internet to find out how to apply. You see that very few people become knights. Only after many years of serving the queen of England will she invite you to Buckingham Palace, knock you on the shoulder three times with a sword, hand you a nifty medal, and—shazzaml—make you a knight.
But you have a little problem: If you serve the queen, you can’t hang out at the mall anymore. And you’re way too busy doing homework and playing computer games to do stuff for the queen. So you decide to cut a few corners on the way to knighthood.
You start passing around your own business cards. In bold letters they say, “Sir Cheese Head—Don’t Forget to Bow.” You buy some cool knight clothes and get a bunch of official-looking medals at the pawn shop. You tell all your friends, “Call me Sir Cheese Head from now on—or else.”
The big question is, are you really a knight? You know the big answer is no!
You can dress like a knight, talk like a knight, act like a knight, swing a sword like a knight, and smell like a knight. But that doesn’t make you a knight. If you think otherwise, just try getting into Buckingham Palace with a card that says, “Sir Cheese Head—Don’t Forget to Bow.”
No one is dumb enough to try that.
But lots of people use the same approach when trying to get close to God. The Bible clearly explains that God makes us right—acceptable to him—and “knights” us—makes us his royal sons and daughters—when we confess our sin and trust him for salvation. Faith, believing and trusting in God, is the only way we become part of God’s family.
One reason the Good News of the gospel is good news is because God has done everything necessary to make you right and keep you right. When by faith you accept what he has done for you, he welcomes you into his family. You can’t invent a title to get in!
TALK: How do you feel toward a God who loves you enough to make you right by faith—not by your effort—so he can be your Father?
PRAY: Tell God what you’re thinking and feeling about being his son or daughter.
ACT: Make a poster that reminds you that you’re a son or daughter of God—and that you don’t have to impress anyone.