Galatians 4:4-6:There’s so much in this passage. First of all, a reminder that everything happens on God’s time-table. Sometimes that seems painfully slow to us, like it will never happen; but if it’s God’s will, it will happen when God says it’s time. That’s frustrating and hard for our human minds to comprehend.
When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son… so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Think about adoption for a minute. We have learned that when a child is adopted, they have all the same legal rights as our flesh-and-blood children. As far as the law is concerned, they become our children just as if I had given birth to them. That’s what God did for us! When he adopted me as his child, I became a sister to Jesus Christ and to all other believers - and I became a CHILD OF GOD! I am a co-heir with Christ! How mind-boggling! God’s love never ceases to amaze me. And as we try to prepare ourselves for adopting a child, I am comforted by the fact that God will give us the love we need. The child we adopt won’t be perfect, but neither are our other children. But God already had a perfect child - Jesus - so why would he want us, with all our issues and problems? Because of his great love!
When we adopt, we’ll get a piece of paper that proves the child is part of our family. When we are adopted by God, we get something much better than a piece of paper to prove it; we get the Holy Spirit living inside us! That’s what allows us to claim God as our Father, and gives us the right to call him “Daddy.” I still have a hard time with that. It says plain and clear in the Bible that we can call him “Abba”, which is what Hebrew kids called their fathers; in other words, “Daddy.” But that’s so intimate. I guess I grew up thinking God was a far-away, kind of scary guy in the sky. Somebody who demanded to be addressed in a very formal manner. But here he tells me it’s ok to call him Daddy. Wow again. God is my Daddy, who loves me more than any earthly father ever.
