Identity and self-worth

¹ Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

² Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

³⁰ Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,’ declares the Lord GOD.

³¹ ‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

¹² But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

¹³ children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.

⁶ And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

⁹ But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

¹⁷ And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”

⁶ For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷ The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

¹ You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,

² for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

⁴ For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

⁵ He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

⁶ to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

¹⁹ Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

¹² And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

¹³ “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

¹⁵ “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

The chief official gave them new names: To Daniel he gave the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.

Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.

Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.

Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.

But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.

Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

⁵¹ For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.

⁵² May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You.

⁵³ For You, O Lord GOD, as Your inheritance, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”

Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.

When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”

Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”