Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. Ephesians 1:5
Being a grandfather means I usually have some candy in my pockets for a treat for my grandchildren. While I was accompanying my six-year-old grandson on a field trip to a farm, I discovered a solitary jelly bean in a baggy in my jacket pocket. As we were making our way from one barn to another, I offered Jonah the jelly bean, and he popped it into his mouth with a grin. A little girl behind us noticed the transaction, and asked in a demanding voice, ‘How come he got a jelly bean and I didn’t?’ Irritated by her attitude of entitlement, I simply responded, ‘Because he’s my grandson’. Now, I often give a candy to other children, but I don’t feel any obligation to do so. But my grandchildren have learned that they can ask for, and expect to receive, a candy from me. It’s a privilege of being members of my family. You and I also have privileges and expectations that come with being part of the family of our Heavenly Father.
Our relationship with God delivers us from eternal judgment. Consider a home in which a servant and a son both break the rules. The servant is liable to be fired, banished from the home. Not so the son, who might well face punishment, but never banishment. God cannot and will not ever banish us because we are His sons and daughters.
Our relationship with God provides us with the presence of the Holy Spirit as our eternal pledge of ownership. Some families today are having their babies implanted with an RFID chip so that the baby can be identified in case of abduction. No matter how an abductor alters or disguises the baby’s appearance, an RFID scanner would instantly identify the baby. But an RFID chip can be surgically removed. Not so the Holy Spirit, Who even when grieved or quenched, will never, can never leave us, because we are God’s children.
Our relationship with God provides us with a new nature, so different from our former nature as children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) and children of the devil (1 John 3:10). Our adoption as children has transformed us into children of God with all of the abilities and desires to function as full fledged members of the family into which we have been adopted.
Our relationship with God also brings us into an intimacy with our Father. Pope Francis was dead (literally) wrong about his declaration that nobody can have such a personal relationship. This relationship so precious to those of us who have come to appreciate being able to address Him as Father, or as Romans 8:15 describes, we cry ‘Abba, Father’, which means ‘our own dear Father’. We share His affection, His compassion, and His care for us.
The adoption as children of God is one of the great spiritual blessings listed in the first chapter of Ephesians. What a blessing! -Jim MacIntosh