I am an American.  I was born in the USA.  Graduated high school in the late 80’s and finished college and seminary in the early 90s.  Having lived in Ireland for 23 years, I’m married to a wonderful Irish woman and have 4 kids who find it amusing to be ‘half’ American.  A number of years ago I was granted Irish citizenship.  The exchange of citizenship was made official when I received my Irish passport.  But the benefits of citizenship would mean very little to me if I do not exercise the rights of citizenship.  When a right is bestowed on us, it is something we must embrace and choose to exercise.

“To all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”

Understood in this way, it is interesting to note that the Greek word for ‘right’ is actually ‘exousia’.  This Greek word is translated as ‘authority’ in other passages.  For instance, when Jesus sent the Twelve to preach and heal the Bible says he gave them power (dunamis) and authority (exousia).  This wider context of the use of exousia sheds deeper meaning on the ‘right’ God extends to enable us to become His children.  Specifically, in the same way authority must be exercised to bring God’s truth into a situation, the rights of family must be exercised to experience the relationship of a child with a Father.

As we’ve seen (see post), the act of receiving Him is an integral component to becoming His child.  Believing in His name is the other crucial component.  We can only ‘receive’ the One in whom we believe.  Through being ‘receptive’ to believe, we are able to put our trust in Him.  And through trust we learn to exercise our right (authority) to BE a child of God.

Exercising the rights of a child more easily flow from a place of belief – where love, faith and trust are deeply rooted.  A child learns trust from infancy.  Since we are children of the perfect parent, we have the opportunity to learn to trust Him from the moment we receive and believe.  It is through love we obey Him.  The more we obey, the more we learn trust.  As we learn to trust him, we develop our understanding.  As we become more understanding of Who He is, we grow in wisdom (see post) and become more like our Father (see Col 2.3).

“To all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”