ADOPTED
Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
We adopted my sister in 1961 when she was about six months old. My parents could not have any more children after me due to a medical issue. Not because I was a horrible child. They wanted a little girl, so they brought Leslie home. They did a good job of communicating to Leslie that they chose her and she was wanted. But my sister always wanted to know who her parents were. In 1961, many of the adoptions were closed, so my sister had no access to the birth records. When DNA testing became mainstream a few years ago, Leslie was able to find who her parents were and even connected with her half-brothers. The brothers were extremely warm and welcoming, and were amazed at how much Leslie was like her mother. It’s a neat story.
There is something in all of us that desires to know where we are from and our roots. Who is our father and mother? In our verses for today, Paul continues the theme of we are sons of God. Through the redemption that Jesus accomplished for us, meaning He paid for our freedom, we are no longer in bondage to sin and Satan and the works of darkness. We may live in a dark, fallen world, but we are different. We are children of God, sons of God, adopted into His family.
This is a big deal. It blessed my sister to know where she came from and what family she was connected to. It blesses us to know where we are from spiritually speaking and who we are connected to. Paul reveals that God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. That’s big. The Holy Spirit living in us is part of our inheritance in Christ, and with this supernatural connection, we are able to cry out Abba Father. Bible scholars tell us that Abba is the word for father uttered by a small child. It is the term for someone who belongs in the family. My sister called my parents, mom and dad, just as I did. She was part of the family, not an outsider. We have that same privilege. We can go to God as someone who belongs to Him; we are part of His family. No longer a slave but a son of God. And that is a completely different dynamic. Now we serve God voluntarily, but we serve as sons, as those who are heirs of God through Christ.
APPLICATION
For my sister to be part of her birth family was a big deal. Even though she had us, she was able to make a connection that brought her a level of peace.
For us to understand that we are part of God’s family sheds a different light on our relationship with Him. We are His, we belong to His family, and that changes how we pray and approach our Heavenly Father. This revelation can also change how we live. We are not the same. We are new creations with a new family, and it’s a strong family. We have a stellar family heritage. We are citizens of the greatest Kingdom ever. We can live different because we are different. We are sons of Almighty God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. We have been adopted into the best family ever with the best Father ever. And that is a great reason to rejoice and give thanks today.
PRAYER
Thank You, Father, that I can even call You Father. I am so glad to be Your son and Your heir. I am so blessed to be a first-class member of Your highest-class family.