Aren't we all children of God?
God created the heavens and the earth and everything else including us. Therefore we all must be children of God, right? Many people think so. But not so fast....
Yes, God did create man in his own image, he made Adam and Eve and put them in the garden of Eden. They were righteous and blameless and God just gave them just one command; they could eat of any tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded them not to eat its fruit. For in the day they would eat of it they would surely die. But they let the devil tempt them and listened to him instead of to their Creator. They ate of the fruit and they fell for the devils lies out of their pride and their desire for knowledge and their desire to become like God. That is how sin came into the world and death as the result of Adam and Eve's sin and ever since then all human beings are born with Adam's sinful flesh (corrupted nature).
No one is born a Christian or born a child of God; because of Adam's disobedience we were all made sinners. And ever since Adam, human beings and the world have become more and more corrupted.
Why do we need to become children of God?
What is the difference between a child of God and a child of Adam?
We are all children of Adam, that is a fact. There is no choice involved. The question we need to deal with is; what is the difference between someone who solely is a child of Adam and someone who also is a child of God? And after that we need to consider how can I become a child of God?
First let's establish this; if two people were walking down the street and one was a child of God and the other just a child of Adam we would not be able to tell the difference just by the way they looked. The difference is first and foremost inside and it starts to show up in how a person behaves. A child of Adam will act and behave just like his father and a child of God will be imitating and behaving like his heavenly Father.
Being descendants of Adam we inherited all of Adams traits, like father - like son. Do you notice how in the world everyone in general tends towards the wrong things. And you yourself probably know yourself that it is easier to do the wrong thing then the right thing. Most of us become enslaved to doing things we know aren't right, or things we shouldn't do. We try to stop, but somehow it seems the wrong things are more powerful than we are... Not only have we inherited Adams corrupt nature, but we also act on it ourselves and become sinners in every sense of the word. In this condition no one is going to heaven.
The Remedy
God had the answer all worked out already;
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4&5
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:6-9
From Adam's children to God's children!
Adam was a created being, created by God. So it takes God's doing for us to become his child. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn being one of God's children. God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins, Jesus Christ lived a righteous life of obedience, obeying all of God's commandments (the law) all of the time, thereby having the righteousness that we "gave away" by sinning and disobeying God's commandments. You and me becoming part of God's family is threefold;
1. Through Jesus Christ dying on the cross, God forgave me for my sins
2. Through Jesus Christ's righteous life, God gave me his righteousness
3. God gave me a piece of himself by giving me his Holy Spirit which now dwells within me and is point positive proof that I actually am one of God's beloved children.
What an honor, what a privilege! To be one of God's children! Amazing Grace. From dead to life, from condemnation to justification. From children of wrath to God's beloved children. From guilty to forgiven. From naked and ashamed to clothed in Christ's righteousness. From no hope to an eternal hope.