Hey Dad! Are you sure you didn’t adopt me?

Have you ever wondered if you are adopted? If you were, would that make your parents love you less or more? What if they searched the world for you and found you? What if they went through reams of bureaucratic red tape? What if they paid an adoption agency a million bucks because they loved you at first sight? What if even though you hated them, stole from them, and swore at them, their love remained steadfast and sure?

Well, in this 13th post on redemption, that’s what God has done for sinners like you and me—except for the bureaucracy and much more! The cost was astronomical and the time involved in arranging our adoption was infinitely more. From eternity past, he saw those he would love and redeem through Jesus Christ. Then, he paid for our adoption with the blood of his only Son.

“When the time was fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons. [That we might be adopted.] Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba, Father…and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Gal. 4:4-7). Because of our adoption, the Holy Spirit prompts us to call God, Abba which means, Daddy. As God’s adopted children we inherit all the rights and privileges of being in his family. No wonder then, that in prayer we can bring our requests to God and cry out, “our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name”.

As John writes of Jesus, “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Those who receive Christ by genuinely believing in what his name stands for, they are adopted into God’s family. They become children of God.

As Ephesians declares, “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph. 1:5). This adoption was in spite of the fact that we were dead to God, lost in our transgressions and sins…following the ways of the world and the devil…and living to gratify our lusts…as children of wrath. (See Eph. 2:1-3).

Romans reiterates this glorious truth. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba,’ Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:15-17). No longer lonely, we have a family that extends throughout the world and into the realms of glory. No longer afraid, we have a big brother Jesus and an all-powerful Father. No longer in doubt, but assured by the Holy Spirit that we are God’s children. No longer paupers, but joint-heirs with Christ of incalculable wealth. No longer defenseless, but indwelt by the dynamite of the Spirit and connected to all the resources of the universe. No longer fearful of disaster, we are confident because we are on the glory-side. Victory in Jesus is assured. Of course, like those in any family we share the sufferings and troubles endured by the family.

Are you, am I, redeemed—then we are also adopted! Lord help us not to live like insecure paupers but as children of the King.

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)

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