Tuesday, December 24, 2024
For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:14-17
How does Jesus’ adoption by Joseph relate to our adoption? How do we know that we are God’s adopted children? What is the result of our adoption?
What Does It Mean to be a Child of God?
When we accept Christ as our savior we accept the greatest gift ever given – forgiveness and eternal life. But there is another part to that gift that we sometimes forget. When we become a Christian, we become a child of God.
I think we use the term “child of God” loosely without really thinking about what that means for us. We say that we are a “child of God” because God is our “heavenly Father.” Just as we sometimes don’t utilize the full power of the Holy Spirit, we don’t embrace the depth of what it truly means for us to be a “child of God.”
As we talked about it yesterday, Jesus was adopted by Joseph so he would be in the lineage of David, fulfilling the prophecy that he is the Messiah. Joseph’s adoption of Jesus is a direct link to our adoption by God. Because Joseph adopted Jesus and did not divorce Mary, Jesus was born the Messiah, raised up and crucified on the cross to pay the price for our sins, so we could be redeemed – and adopted by God to be joint heirs with Jesus. We are God’s children right along with his only begotten son, Jesus. We are heirs of the King of Kings with a heavenly inheritance.
We have a father – a heavenly father who owns the cattle on 1,000 hills, binds the wounds of the broken hearted, never leaves or forsakes us when others do, chose us and died for us while we were still sinners, and so much more. We have a heavenly father who is more than everything our earthly fathers may not have been but were supposed to be.
How do we know that we are God’s adopted children? - The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children…
When we are God’s adopted children, our lives will look different from the rest of the world. We will have a relationship with God and we will be led by the Spirit as a result of that relationship. As his children we walk with him, learning to live and love like him, and pointing others to him. The Holy Spirit lives in us and testifies that we are God’s children.
God has adopted us as His children and we can call Him "Father." God showed the greatest love ever through the sacrifice of his son and as we grow in our relationship with him we come to know a love so deep and vast we can never fully comprehend it.
Our heavenly inheritance is of greater value than any earthy inheritance. Nothing here on earth compares. As his children in a relationship with him we shift our focus from building earthly treasures to helping to build his kingdom. We surrender fully to him and his glory is displayed through our lives.
You are a child of God, heir of the heavenly King. Let that sink deep into your heart and give you strength and motivation to live a life that brings glory to God.
