Last year’s events disconnected us from family, fellowship, and other parts of our lives we previously assumed were assurances. Things we thought had regardless.
Life wasn’t what we wanted it to be. People weren’t who we thought them to be.
Yet God’s truth about who we are still stands.
I need to remember that, so I’m pretty sure other people need to hear it, too. I hope this encourages you today.
You are a child of the King three times over.
God created you (Psalm 139:13). He bought you back at a high price (1 Corinthians 6:20). Then He adopted you into His eternal family. All three events carry the weight of CHOICE.
GOD chose you. God CHOSE you. Yes, God chose YOU. The progression of creating us, buying us back, and adopting us is a glorious one. It shows how deliberate and decisive God is in ensuring that we can be with Him forever.
Let that sink in.
Paul talks about God choosing us for adoption as sons in Galatians, Ephesians, and Romans. But he repeatedly emphasizes adoption in his book to the Romans.
Why the Romans? In the first century, Rome ruled most of the world. Slave trade was a lucrative business. Subservience was a commodity; loyalty was a contingency. But adoption was another matter. The Romans placed a higher value on adopted children and gave them more privileges than they conferred to their biological children. That may sound strange, but their reasoning was this: with biological children, you get what you get. But you CHOOSE whom you adopt.
Think of how Paul’s words must have electrified everyone who heard them!
Remember that scene from Ben-Hur when Arrius adopted Judah Ben-Hur [Charlton Heston] as his son? The ring Arrius placed on Heston’s finger symbolized all that Heston would be privileged to enjoy now and inherit in the future as an adopted son.
What does that mean in practical terms for you and me? Eternal blessings I can’t fully imagine. Infinite resources I don’t fully know how to tap into, their sum more than an abundance of what I could ever need. Ephesians 1 lists blessings of being chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, united with Christ, blessed with His grace, imbued with His wisdom, marked for an incomparable inheritance, and given the Holy Spirit as a promise of what’s to come. Ephesians 3 and John 1:16 go further to say God shares all His fullness (the sum of His attributes) with us: His righteousness, presence, promises, blessings, grace, pardon, comfort, guidance, discernment, wisdom.
How does God walk that out in our lives? In countless ways. These two final thoughts highlight a few.
God is your keeper.
The Israelites sang Psalm 121 as they ascended the hills surrounding Jerusalem, en route to worship in the Temple. The word “keeper” is set strategically the middle word of this psalm in verse 5. The Hebrew word for keeper is shamar, which means a guardian. The Hebrew letters that form the word paint a picture of a hedge of thorns that a shepherd would erect for his flock. In the wilderness, that makeshift sheepfold protected the sheep from nighttime predators. How blessed we are that God is our constant keeper!
God is also much more.
The Bible bursts with more. God is your rock, refuge, stronghold, fortress, shield, high tower, protector, provider, deliverer. He’s much more, but all that is packed into just four verses (Psalm 18:2, Psalm 62:7, Psalm 121:4, Psalm 144:2)!
Whenever I don’t feel loved, accepted, valued, protected, or cared for, I camp on those promises. My feelings are fickle. His Word is not. Thank you, Lord!
What does being God’s child three times over mean to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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MUSIC BONUS:
Third Day’s official music video “Children of God,” a loving testimony to what it means to be adopted.
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