Romans 8:14-17
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
I learned many years
ago that, when it comes to parenting, there is nothing stronger than
adoption. A natural birth carries with
it parental rights and responsibilities, for both the parent and (eventually)
the child. This is also true in
adoption. However, as we have seen the
move to allow children the right to emancipate from parents, and the rights of parents to disown children, there is a marked and different finality to
adoption that makes it nearly impossible for adoptive parents to disassociate
themselves from the child they received.
This concept is immeasurably
magnified in the spiritual realm. When
God adopts you as His own, it is enternal and unbreakable. And it is on a much deeper level than
legality. God’s own Spirit takes up
residence within his adopted family to knit together the divine and human. God’s word declares this to be true, and
reminds us it takes a sharp sword to slice that thinly, the distance between
what separates us from God as simply His created beings, loaded with free will…dangerously
so…and the life that has been surrendered to the adoptive process, as accepted
in the beloved family of Jesus Christ.
Yet, that is exactly what God’s Word promises:
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
And, as we are on the
matter of God’s adoptive ways, and the issue of God as parent of us all creative-wise, and God as parent adoption-wise, shall we not also consider the twoedged sword of
privilege and responsibility sharpness-wise?
The privileges are well-known,
God’s promises for today, and eternal life to boot. But the responsibilities are just as well
known, and just on the other side of the sharp blade. To be a child, accepted, never disowned, and
beloved, is a rare gift, and to be greatly treasured. To honor that gift is the other side of the
sharp sword, namely, responsibility. For those who
take lightly that for which God has shed His own blood, is to tread in
dangerous paths. Yet, today we see so
much of that.
·
Commitment has become as vile a word as change
·
Discipleship sinks into channel surfing on a Sunday to satisfy itchy ears
·
Tithe is a word relegated to all other antiquated, outdated ideas
·
…and the list continues, ad nauseum.
And so, a word to those
who have truly been adopted. Accept the
Father like He accepted you. And the
best way to demonstrate that is with a life that is lived in honor of the name
you claim.
Let’s Pray Together
Lord, we can think of nothing more offensive to
the gift you have given of your holy child, Jesus’ death and resurrection, than
for those of us who claim to be His followers to live like the world
teaches. Help us keep pushing on to perfecting
our living in love, and so honor You in all we do.
Here’s a new tattoo for
those hands – Will what I do with these honor God?
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today. Have a blessed day!
Go to VIDEO
For another
post on Romans 8:14 see A Little More Light and
for “Adoption” as a theme see Nearly Abandoned
