In my previous article I discussed how we are called to serve God, so that come our final moments we would have the honor of God saying to us, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
However, today I am going to talk about the highest blessing in all of Christianity, and that is that all Christians are adopted into God’s family and are His sons. God redeemed us from being under the law, and now we are no longer slaves to sin, but we have received his adoption as sons (Gal 4:4-7).
With God as our father, and Jesus as our brother (Mt 28:9-10, Jn 20:17-18, Heb 2:12-13), we are adopted in to a royal family. God is a perfect father, nonetheless, He is also eternal and immutable. Our Maker is now our father, and our savior is now our brother, does it get much better than that? The same holy God of the Old Testament, is the same Father that is faithful in his affections for us, generous, considerate, intrigued in our doings, respecting our individuality, wise, eternally available and challenging us in our Christian Conduct. Even if you do not have an earthly father that even remotely resembles that of God the Father, or even have a father at all, know that God (if you are a Christian) is your eternal father. And it is the eternal father that counts.
Given this is a family, it is conceived in terms of love. Like any loving family; intimacy, fondness, fellowship, honor and generosity are at the heart of this covenant family. Why I believe that adoption is the utmost blessing, even more so than justification (that is God’s forgiveness of the past and acceptance for the future), is because it is important to be just in the Judge’s eyes, but it is of far more significance to be loved, cared and protected by that very same Father.
John puts it best in his first epistle when he wrote, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 Jn 3:1-2 ESV). Again, Charles Wesley passionately wrote:
Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?
O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which Thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God,
Should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
Blessed with this antepast of Heaven!
If you have a heart after God’s, the line that said, “I should be called a child of God,” should wreck you. Think about what that entails. That God, would not only justify us, but take us into his family, even though we are unlovable in comparison to his holiness. God adopted us, as His own, even though we are scum and deserve hell.
We are God’s sons and daughters - not by accident, but by divine purpose. Live in His family daily and learn from your Father as well as about him.
