Sorry folks. I know it has been a long time since I last blogged and since I have recieved certain harrassing e-mails (don’t worry Karen, I won’t mention you by name!), I’ve been shamed into posting a new blog. I am going to attempt to do it once a week, so pray for me that I will be able to fulfill my vow!

Lately, I have been reflecting more and more on the incredible nature of what it means to be a child of God. It truly is humbling. In the eighth chapter of the book of Romans, Paul writes that we “did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Rom 8:15-16) Consider with me what that means.

God has gone to great lengths to adopt Christians into His family, to adopt you if you are a believer out of the world and into His family. Here are some things to consider that I pray will stoke your heart into flame in love for God. If you are a Christian, you need to consider with awe:

1. God planned your adoption before time began. It was God’s idea. It was God’s plan all along. He predestined you for adoption as His son or daughter. Ephesians 1 talks about this: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Eph 1:3-6) God’s love for you and its fulfillment in your adoption into his eternal family of joy did not start in this world. It reaches back to eternity. Thankfully your adoption is not based on your goodness, your earthly value, or your character. It is rooted in God’s eternal purpose and grace. And that means that your adoption is not fragile or shaky or doubtful. God will not adopt only to be surprised that you are not worthy and unadopt you. He knows we are unworthy. And he chose us and predestined you if you are a Christian for adoption anyway.

2. That God would adopt you when He already had a perfect Son. God had no need for children. There was no gaping hole in God’s heart that we needed to fill. God already had a perfect Son from eternity, the fullness of His glory and brightness of His perfection. That God the Father should adopt us when He already had a perfect son of His own, the Lord Jesus Christ, is a wonder of wonders, a wonder of His love. He did not need sons, but we needed a Father. More than that…

3. God adopted you despite the horrible personal cost to Himself. To make heirs of wrath and death into children of God and heirs of life is no simple or easy thing. Our adoption was purchased at a dear rate. God didn’t just snap His fingers or make a decree. To purchase us and make us children of God required the blood of His dear, perfect, holy, righteous, worship-worthy Son. It would cost the life of His perfect Son to make us His children. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”– (Gal 3:13) It cost the blood of His dear Son, it required the Father to pour out His wrath on the apple of His eye; it demanded that the Father turn His face away from His Son and be separated from Him in the agony of the cross. It required God to bruise His dear Son for us. It demanded Christ taste the punishment for our wickedness and sin, from His own dear Father.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2Co 5:21) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:13) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. (Eph. 1:7-8)

You cannot be a child of God and take this for granted, to be unmoved or stoic regarding the cost of your adoption is just not an option. It is no small thing, no trifle, but a work of grace which cost infinitely beyond our ability to grasp or comprehend. It is a wonder of love…

4. That God would adopt us in the state that we were in. God did not adopt us when we were beautiful or shining with righteousness. He didn’t adopt us because we were cute and could sing funny little dittys like “Annie. We were evil, rebellious, wicked — “children of wrath” is the way that the Word describes us. Romans 5 calls us enemies with God, weakened by sin, unrighteous sinners. Think about that. We were enemies with God. That God would adopt us like that is a wonder of His love. And yet in spite of our wickedness and sin, God adopted us and cleansed us by the blood of Christ, he tenderly washed us, transformed our souls, gave us life and faith and hope in Him and made us in the words of Ephesians 1:4, “holy and blameless before Him.” Our adoption is a wonder of God’s love:

5. That God should take great numbers from the out of the devil’s family and adopt them into the family of Heaven. In Hebrews 2:10, we read that Christ is bringing many sons to glory. Instead of adopting only one heir, God is resolved to make His family glorious, to bring many children to glory, to give many children an inheritance in Him. How many is that? We don’t know. But we do know the description of John in Revelation, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:9-10) It is a wonder of His love that:

6. God would give us such an honor as to be adopted by Him.

We have new status and dignity. We have a new Father. We receive discipline that leads to godliness. We have the privilege of prayer. We know the Father loves us. We have an inheritance. We have the privilege to imitate him. We have family.

We have been adopted by God and we have been given such grace as can never be quantified, but that is not the goal anyway. We have been adopted so that we would worship our Father and delight in His favor to us, that we would make much of Him forever, that we would find our greatest treasure in Him and find deep humility in knowing Him and all He has done in and for us.

I once had a friend who, in speaking of a bible study group of which I was a part, said “You know, I just don’t love Him like you guys do.” Maybe you are struggling with that. If you are and if you are a Christian, meditate on what it means to be adopted by God and I believe you will begin to love Him as He is worthy. Understanding God’s grace leads to love.

Feed on comments to this Post