ROMANS 8:14-17 – For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
THEME OF THE DAY. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. Two of the most important and comforting words starting any of our prayers are “Abba, Father.”
When life is hard and exhausting; when circumstances appear hopeless and draining; when situations are overwhelming and unchanging; and relationships are challenging and difficult, there is one truth a Christian may always rely upon to find strength to go on no matter the season or trial. It is knowing the Creator as “Heavenly Father” and being able to pour out our hurting souls in the two words “Abba, Father”.
It would be a great benefit to the church of the Lord Jesus if His preachers spent more time in encouraging God’s people on their position in Him, particularly, being adopted children. Don’t get me wrong. We need solid exposition of the Word on God’s attributes. And we certainly need to ensure the people in our churches know what they believe theologically. Christians must be able, by memory and conviction, to articulate for their own spiritual good and warfare, doctrines such as the inspiration of the Bible, Christ’s deity, the Trinity, substitutionary atonement, and justification by faith. But theology without relationship is simply cold orthodoxy. We need theology that prompts adoration and the word “adoption” is one of the most encouraging and empowering truths a Christian may ever know in our relationship with Him.
Let me ask . . . do we think much about being adopted in God’s family and how that impacts our daily lives? I am not asking for us to acknowledge we are God’s children but what difference is being in God’s family making in our lives as we live in a sin-cursed world? Allow me to share a great answer to those questions with a statement on adoption from a 19th century Presbyterian pastor – theologian named Robert Alexander Webb. He wrote, “When we approach God in the intensity of worship, we gather up all the sweetness involved in fatherhood and all the tenderness enwrapped in sonship. When calamities overcome us and troubles come in like a flood, we lift our cry and stretch out our arms to God as a compassionate Father. When the angel of death climbs in at the window of our homes and bears away the object of our love, we find our dearest comfort in reflecting upon the fatherly heart of God. When we look across the swelling flood, it is our Father’s house on the light covered hills beyond the stars that cheers us amid the crumbling of the earthly tabernacle. The paternity of God, the adoption of believers, the fraternity of all the saints, the household of faith, the family of God in heaven and earth, make a circle of domestic ideas that the Christian values above all the gold of Egypt, above all the gold of the world.”
In reading Webb’s statement, notice how the Fatherhood of God covers and comforts us in all of life – worship, times of trouble, and death. Nothing is outside the reach and impact of our adoption into God’s family. Learn to think and live out our adoption into God’s family. It will make all the difference in how we live.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for being such a good, good Father. May I live up to my family name!”
QUOTE: “When we may confidently rest that our Creator God is our Creator God Father, all is well, all the time.”