Sinclair Ferguson's book,"Children of the Living God", is a mere 127 pages. But, do not think that you will be able to devour this spiritual food in a brief sitting. This book is full of meat and requires one to chew every little bite, slowly and deliberately.

Prior to the Reformation, the principle view of the Christian life was one of fear and bondage rather than Sonship. Ferguson's reason for writing the book is chiefly to bring to light not only the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God but also the doctrine of Christian Sonship.

One of the reason's I love this book and recommend it to our readers is because there are so many Christians today who struggle with their self image. Though they "know" they were justified by grace through faith, they continue to live their Christian life in fear and bondage to the law as well as the past instead of in the freedom and privilege of Sonship. Paul said to the Galatians (3:2-3), "I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit are you trying to attain your goal by human effort?"

With pressure from both within and outside the church to maintain a certain image, it is fundamental to our spiritual health and our relationship with Christ as well as our relationships within the body of Christ that we view ourselves as the Son's of God that we are and that we come to a deep and practical application of that doctrine.

Ferguson writes about the need in the church today to address spiritual difficulties:

(Many Christians) cannot trust him, and so they do not know the joy of self-abandonment to him as their Father in heaven... The Christian church is plagued today... with slick and immediate answers to such spiritual difficulties. But what is really needed is a biblical answer, precisely because these are theological as well as emotional or psychological problems. For their root lies in our idea of God, and how we think of our relationship to him. No short-cut that tries to bypass the patient unfolding of the true character of God, and our relationship to him as his children, can ever succeed in providing long-term spiritual therapy. But the knowledge that the Father has bestowed his love on us, so that we are called children of God... will over time, prove to be the solvent in which our fears, mistrust, and suspicion of God - as well as our sense of distance from him - will eventually dissolve.

Ferguson helps us to understand in very practical ways the doctrines of the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of the elect. To live in freedom and to enjoy the liberty of God's grace we must come to understand these doctrines. Ferguson's hope in writing this book is that its readers will gain a greater understanding of the privileges that are theirs in Christ.

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