We Are God's Children: Understanding Our Divine Identity

In a world that constantly tries to diminish your worth, remember who you truly are.

Last time, we explored the church's view on scripture and continuing revelation. Today, I want to dive into something even more profound: the nature of God and our relationship to Him.

I remember as a missionary teaching the first section of the first lesson in *Preach My Gospel*: "God is Our Loving Heavenly Father." Back then, I didn't fully grasp how life-changing and paradigm-shifting this doctrine truly is.

More Than Just Wooden Figures

There's a beautiful children's book by Max Lucado called *You Are Special* that tells the story of wooden people called Wemmicks. These little figures, carved by a woodworker named Eli, spend their days placing stickers on each other—stars for the talented and attractive, dots for those who lack ability or beauty.

The main character, Punchinello, is covered in dots until he visits Eli's workshop. There, he learns a profound truth: the stickers only stick if you let them. What matters is what his maker thinks of him.

I love this story because it illustrates how we get our sense of worth from our Creator. But there's something even more remarkable about our relationship with God that this analogy doesn't capture: while the Wemmicks could never be anything more than wooden toys, we are made of the same eternal stuff as God Himself.

Three Profound Truths from the Restoration

The Restoration has revealed three incredible truths that help us understand just how amazing our relationship with God truly is:

1. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are separate beings with bodies of flesh and bone

In Ether 3:6, the Brother of Jared saw "the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood."

Joseph Smith testified: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. …When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other — This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

In Doctrine and Covenants 130:22, Joseph Smith taught: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also."

And Christ Himself said after His resurrection: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

We aren't as different from God as a wooden Wemmick is from his carpenter.

2. We are both the Lord's handiwork AND eternal spirit children of God

There's more to our origin story than most people realize. We are part of the eternal family. Part of what makes up our souls existed with Him in the beginning:

"Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D&C 93:29).

In Abraham 3:18, we learn that spirits "existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are...eternal."

Abraham 3:22, 24, 26 reveals: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was… And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell..."

Elder Alliaud beautifully observed how God spoke to Moses: "God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name." Then He added, "And, behold, thou art my son." Later, he said, "And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten." Finally, He ended with, "And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son."

It appears that God was determined to teach Moses one crucial lesson: "You are my child," which He repeated at least three times. He couldn't even mention Moses' name without immediately adding that he was His son.

3. The purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to provide a way for us to become like our Heavenly Father

Christ invites us: "Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:20).

In Moses 6:59-60, we learn that to be sanctified is to become free from sin, pure, clean, and holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Our Divine Potential

Elder Oaks taught:

"From modern revelation we know that the ultimate destiny of all who live on the earth is not the inadequate idea of heaven for the righteous and the eternal sufferings of hell for the rest. God's loving plan for His children includes this reality taught by our Savior Jesus Christ: 'In my Father's house are many mansions.'"

He continued:

"The revealed doctrine of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all the children of God—with exceptions too limited to consider here—will ultimately inherit one of three kingdoms of glory, even the least of which 'surpasses all understanding.'"

And then he finished:

"Another unique doctrine and practice of the restored Church is the revealed commandments and covenants that offer all the children of God the sacred privilege of qualifying for the highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom. That highest destination—exaltation in the celestial kingdom—is the focus of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

What Is Exaltation?

The Atonement of Jesus Christ has both redemptive and exalting qualities. "The objective of the Atonement [of Jesus Christ] is not just to cleanse us, but to so transform our lives and our way of thinking and acting that we become like God."

Through the power of Christ and His Atonement, we can become holy like God the Eternal Father. We can become co-heirs of His glory with Christ (Romans 8:17) and "sit down in his kingdom and go no more out" (Revelation 3:12).

Can you see how knowing that we are part of God's family illuminates our place in His plan?

A New Perspective

How can this make a difference in your life? We "belong to a church and embrace a gospel that lift our vision and invite us into the divine."

What could knowing you are a literal spirit child of God change about how you see the world? How might it help you see the scriptures in a new light?

When the Wemmicks wanted to know more about their relationship with their creator, they went to His workshop. Similarly, we can accept this invitation into the Divine through temple worship.

President Nelson has promised that:

"Time in the temple will help you to think celestial and to catch a vision of who you really are, who you can become, and the kind of life you can have forever. Regular temple worship will enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God's magnificent plan."

These are marvelous truths that have been restored by miraculous means through the prophet Joseph Smith and the ongoing restoration in these last days. We are literally children of the Most High God, and through the gospel and power of His Son Jesus Christ, we can return home to live with Him again, and take part in His Divine life, not simply as creations, but as His family.

​In a world that tries to define you by what you do or how you look, choose to remember who you truly are—a child of God with divine potential.