In love He predestined
us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind
intention of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
In love God predestined me to adoption as His very own
child. In love He did it. That predestined word has led people into
many a debate. Once again let me state,
I am not here to debate the theology, but to know God more, and in that knowing
to rejoice in the wonders and glory of God.
We have been adopted by God!
That is such a wild idea; so wild in fact that the Jews have had a
really hard time with it. The New
Testament is filled with verses that relate to this issue, that God would call
the Gentiles out for His very own; that He would chose us and adopt us into the
family. Into a family that previously
would have nothing good to say about us and nothing to do with us. But I am in Christ, and that makes all the
difference. Oh sweet grace! Wonderful
grace of our loving God! He takes what
is despicable and makes it a thing of beauty.
He took me, an enemy of God (Romans 5:10) and made me His very own
beloved child. He did not do this out of
pity, He did not do this because He needed my service; He did it simply because
He wanted to, because He is full of kindness.
And now I can come before Him praying Abba, Father. He moved our relationship into a very
personal one where I can call Him Daddy.
For me that word evokes images of placing my hand in one much larger
than my own or climbing up into this over-sized La-Z-Boy and cuddling up in His
lap and being completely enveloped. Ours
is a very special relationship. I know
some struggle with the image of daddy.
Some have been hurt by their earthly ones in unimaginable ways. My own was less than perfect, but in no way
damaged that image for me. I loved being
a daddy's girl. Now I get to be that
again, a Daddy's girl, and in His arms life holds nothing to fear. And if you are one of those who has had that
image damaged in the past I praying that someday you too will be able to revel
in being a Daddy’s girl.
In these verses there is a third blessing we have in Christ:
Redemption. Redeemed, how I love to
proclaim it! When I look back over my
life and think about those things I thought were such pressing needs: a house,
a job, healing from illness, chocolate—I have often missed the most pressing need
of all. I was a sinner, separated from
God by guilt and shame. I may not have
committed any of the “big ones.”—Oh, wait a minute, didn’t Jesus say something
about being angry with your brother making you guilty? And didn’t John state in 1 John 3:15 that
everyone who hates is brother is a murderer?
I was a horrible sinner in need of Calvary ’s
Lamb. It was the only way I could be
restored to fellowship with God. Once
again I am bound to proclaim the marvelous grace of our loving Lord!
As if that were not enough, we also enjoy the blessing of
forgiveness. This is not something for
just a select few. This is not something
that is limited. We have forgiveness,
complete forgiveness. Forgiveness for
everything we have ever done, or thought, or said. Forgiveness that extends to all of our
tomorrows. According to the kind
intention of His will He lavishes it upon us. I can be rather stingy with this myself, but
God holds nothing back. I can be pretty
hard on myself and have a hard time letting go of past mistakes, but God says
it is all over. Oh, how He loves you and
me. He gave His life so we would be free
of the chains of sin and shame. Now we
just need to live like women who have been set free.
Blessings,
Deb
No comments:
Post a Comment