In Christ... you are adopted!

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." (Galatians 4:4-7 ESV)

We could talk of our adoption in Christ all day. What a joyous truth. We are sons and daughters, chosen, loved, redeemed and now heirs with Christ. We know it but we rarely live like it.

But it is true. It is beautiful. And it is important. We have a new identity because we have been adopted by God through the work of Christ for us. Hallelujah!

Adoption of children by loving families illustrate this reality with grace and significance. People choose adoption for any number of reasons but beyond our motivation it is a great picture of the love God has for us in Christ.

Yesterday, an adoption was made final. Our friends Andy and Sunita have been through a long process but now their son is theirs. Forever. Here is what they said of the event:

"Today was our adoption day and the tears keep flowing that it is done; that he is legally, forever ours; that this miraculous, beautiful boy who God has forged our hearts with cannot be taken away from us and we get to spend our lives offering back this perfect gift."

What beauty. What grace.

In the same way, God forges our hearts with His through Christ. And we spend eternity with Him as our perfect gift. Rejoice in this today!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/wBHO6C5ovJ4]

Comments

  1. sshradarMay 8, 2014 at 5:25 AM

    His goodness brings me to tears. Gabe is such a blessed little boy!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Artisan Disruption

This week while in Phoenix for a couple of stirring days thinking about equipping the church and living into our missional calling together I experienced artisan disruption.  The lads and I were heading to the second day of the gathering and decided to find some local coffee spot to fuel our morning. When the first stop was closed we rounded the corner into another shop that pushed against our attempts at constant efficiency.  Inside a small art gallery (which also had a hair salon) there was a coffee bar, with one barista doing more than just making drinks, he was making art. The guy had form, precision, and and exacting hand as he made each drink.  The line was out the door yet he carried on, unhurried, unhindered by demand. He was the artisan.  At first I felt out of place. After all I am the guy who drinks from carafes at Panera because I have a sip membership. So to be in a bespoke establishment pulled me out of my element to begin with. This is a discomfort I enjoy
Read more

We don't need better slogans we need to better understand grace

Admit it, you, like me have wasted entirely too much time thinking of new acronyms and poster ideas that will launch us into holiness. And all that we have achieved is lame preaching on being "better" and trying harder and the realization that we fail time and time again. We don't get grace. Matt Chandler is staring this problem in the face and calling it out. "The problem as I perceive it as a Pastor is that most of those who claim to know and love God want to see sin lose its power in their lives and walk in greater intimacy with Christ; most are exhausted and have been trying to mortify sin by promises and threats rather than through the weapons grace provides. By "promises" I mean they believe that they will have life to the “full” and get a great house in heaven if they behave in this manner or that manner..." "Another very popular sport... is fighting residual sin with our own vows and resolution—these become our defense.  In the end, you a
Read more

The Scandal of Free Turtles

Image
My son has/had a couple of turtles. Red-eared sliders who thankfully resided at my dear Aunt's place in town. In her spoiling of my children, somehow turtles were purchased and nurtured. We saw these turtles every week and they were very well taken care of.  Then my beloved Aunt decides to move to Arizona. The plan had long been that once we bought a house the turtles would reside with us in a pond of some sort on our property. But as the inevitable transition approached we balked and my Aunt set out to find a new home for Fred and Percy.  This brings us to our scandalous story.  My Aunt arranged for the turtles to live in a pond, in a gated community, in the back yard of a local dentist. We set out on Sunday to meet and send off the turtles to their new home. But as we arrived at the gate, the doctor was not answering her phone and we didn't know how to get in.  After some time someone drove in and our cars quickly followed through the open gate. Parking at the house the secon
Read more