I enjoyed an awesome breakfast this morning with a bunch of church guys. In the church world we have a name for these, “Men’s breakfast.” Ya, I know, the church is real original. It wasn’t the food or the speaking that satisfied my day. After listening to Nazareth I went to my in-laws house to pick up my son. It was there that I remembered telling Brady that we would go to the beach today. So I picked him up, grabbed a kids meal and went to the beach.
I was listening to my son in the back of the car talking about the beach and how excited he was to burry his cars in the sand. He was going on and on about the sand, the water and of course the toy from his happy meal. I was brought to an extremely vulnerable place after realizing how much it meant to me that he was excited to hang out. Not buy big elaborate gifts or go to disneyland but just hang out. Hebrews 3:1 says “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. Life is so hectic that we loose track of what’s important. Often times our busyness becomes a distortion to the simplicity of walking with Jesus. It was more than my son wanting time with me that got me, it was that I lost track of how important it is to invest in him as my son.
When God gave us His son as a sacrifice He also offered us something so unique. That unique offer was to become a son or daughter of the Lord. When God offers us this He has the intention and purpose to fully develop us as His own. I want to leave with two thoughts about being a son or daughter of God.
One is that we inherit all the blessings of a child. Not only justification but a life, found in Christ, that is full and complete. His desire is to allow circumstances to invade our narcissistic mentality and draw our focus on Him rather than our permanent reflection of self. This draws the thoughts to, will God allow bad things to enter our life? God is, by nature good, so whatever happens to us, His children, is also good. How can we rationalize that with hurt, pain, sorrow, grief, disappointment etc? The Bible says that trials and tribulations produce in us character. We ought to be joyful in all trials, knowing that God has allowed them and that He will bring them to completion. As a conclusion we can be in a state of consistent joy knowing that God loves us as His children and will bless our lives. This leads into the second point.
The word adoption has too many implications to list. Through cultural reference we might think, mom was to young, mom was immature or dad left the picture. You see I have heard those and granted they will have validity in certain circumstances but not when speaking of God. We, by nature, were sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2) and God saw a need in us. We were orphaned as spiritual children and God had the heart to reach out to us. As Jesus hung on the tree, the process was complete. The victory won! Now it is for you and me to either respond to the call of God. God wants you and He wants me. Jesus does so that you and I could be adopted in the family of God.
As a response to this truth we have the opportunity to offer God quality time. He saves and adopts in order that He can spend good quality happy meal and beach time with us. Remember Jesus!
