INTRODUCTION: Throughout the next two weeks, Time With God will be exploring who we are in Christ. Our prayer is that you will grow in confidence and hope as we unpack biblical truth about who God has made us to be. Please note that there will be no Digging Deeper section.
GETTING STARTED
One of the most incredible truths the New Testament shares with us is that, in Christ, we have been adopted by God. The astonishing bottom line of the theology of adoption is that, now that we are God’s children, God loves us as if we have done everything Jesus has done. We are loved as if we are God’s only Son. We even see Jesus praying toward this end in his high priestly prayer to God: “The world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).
The question at hand is whether or not your experience—intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually—as God’s child lines up with your legal status as an adopted child of God, which Christ secured for you through his death and resurrection.
- What are some rights and privileges given to children adopted by loving parents?
READ THE WORD: EPHESIANS 1:3-6 (ESV)
3 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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
RESPOND TO GOD
My cousin and his wife tried to conceive a child for six years before they adopted their first child. My cousin described that time as 72 months of disappointment. But shortly after adopting their son, they had their first biological child, a daughter. When people ask my cousin if his love for his adopted son is any different than his love for his biological daughter, he replies with an emphatic and passionate, “NO! NEVER! I love him with the same absolute, unconditional love that I have for her.”
What’s mind-blowing is that, in Christ, we are God’s adopted children. And just as my cousin loves his adopted son with the same love he has for his biological daughter, God’s love for us is no different than his love for Jesus. Let me say that again in a different way: when God looks at you, his love, favor, approval, and excitement for you equals that of his love, favor, approval, and excitement for Jesus. This is not because of anything you’ve done or ever will do, but because God decided to choose you as his adopted child before the foundation of the world. And, on top of that, God didn’t lovingly adopt you because you’ve avoided bad choices, or because you’d make a great acquisition. He adopted you because he loves you.
- Today, know that God has adopted you, and you are loved purely because of his glorious grace, extended to you in Jesus.