Are you living in the light of God's Adoption???

A friend of mine and fellow blogger recently posted about the surprising power of seeing herself as a daughter of God. Notice I called her a fellow blogger, as if I regularly posted something of significance to read *cough, cough*.

Nevertheless, I have been thinking about the very same theme for my own life since God put us on a journey of adoption. Except not the daughter part. The adoption process has brought a very tangible and constant reminder of what God, through Jesus, did for me. In a very real sense, those who put their trust in Him have been adopted. Everything about us changes. We once were fatherless, and now our Father is the most powerful, most loving, and most resourced of all the fathers. We once had no inheritance, but now we are promised the riches of the King of all the kings. Our identities were once insecure: who am I really? We once felt small, petty, wondering what we were about, where were headed. But now we have been given Roots. We know exactly who we are, and it is grand. We are sons and daughters of the most High and Lofty God. His eternal life pulses in our hearts.

My biggest change in perspective lately has been to make these theological and abstract truths much more concrete and actual. I always thought of my spiritual adoption as merely theoretical. It’s true, but what does it really do for me. But lately I am living in the light of a new reality: God has literally and actually adopted me. His Fatherhood supersedes my literal and familial history! My trepidation, anxieties, fears, insecurities, and general feelings of smallness have been enveloped in His massive hands. He is smiling down on us and gently asking: do you realize what I have done for you, my child? My son? My daughter?

My biggest question for Christ-followers is this: are you living in the literal reality of your new status as an adopted son or daughter of God? Or are you just looking at is as hypothetical? What a difference this fact has on our everyday lives! For example: when you walk into a new setting with people you perceive to be somehow “above” you, the reality starts to set in: my Dad is the King of all the kings. I am his son and am deeply cherished. I have all of His resources at my disposal through prayer. Notice how your behavior begins to change! Now realize this is no cheap mind trick or feel good self-help technique. I’m talking about the fundamental reality that is at the heart of a changed identity in Christ and simply believing it in a deeper and more literal way.

I mean check out what God says in his Book!
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:4-7, NIV)

Notice it doesn’t say: you are LIKE his child, it says that you ARE his child.
Time to start living like it!