It's been a while since I've written anything here - and I apologise for that. I'm sure you've all heard the "Life is what happens when you're making other plans" quote? Well, it's also my life-slogan right now!! But, I'm still here, and I hope you are too ...
Back in February I wrote a post that was meant to be the start of a blog series on Our Identity In Christ, and I haven't been able to shake the feeling that I need to continue the series, so here's Part 2.
In a culture that values "likes" and "followers", it's easy to feel insignificant when you have very few of either. But when we are in Christ, and we know what the Word of God says that that means for us and about us, we learn that the Father gives us all the significance we need, that we have great worth in His Kingdom, and that His approval is all that matters.
And that's what I hope you, dear reader, will discover through this series - your value in the eyes of the Father who created and saved you.
In today's post, I'd like to look at the aspect of the Believer's identity that convinced me to accept His gift of salvation - ADOPTION.
Romans 8: 15 tells us, "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” (HCSB)
And in Ephesians 1: 5 Paul says, "God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure." (NLT)
Isn't that amazing? In Christ, we are adopted, chosen, part of God's family. Forever. The Father loved us so much that He wanted us to be part of His family, as full, equal, co-heirs with His own Son, and so He sent His Son to make a way for us to enter into that inheritance.
Under Roman law at the time when Paul was writing, an adopted child was deliberately chosen by the adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate. The adopted child lost all his or her rights in their old family, and gained all of the rights and privileges of his/her new family. At the same time, all of the adopted child's former debts were canceled, and no wrongdoing from his or her past could be counted against him/her any more.
That's the picture of adoption that Paul is showing us when he describes our spiritual adoption into God's family!!
In sales, there's a concept known as "trading up" - in other words, people won't want to change a product or brand that they already own, unless it's for something better. Well, if Father God's invitation to be a part of His family, to be a loved, valued, chosen child of the Most High, isn't a "trade up", I don't know what is!! And having struggled for most of my childhood with feelings of inadequacy, rejection, and low self-esteem, it was the message that spoke directly to my heart that day when I said "yes" to Him as both my Lord and my Father.
So, today, if there are areas of your life where you feel "less than", or inadequate, or worthless, I want you to know that if you are saved, if you have given control of your life and your eternity to Jesus Christ, you are valued, you have a purpose and a future hope, because your Father in Heaven loves you, and He adopted you as His own!