God's Adoption and the Struggles of Daily Life — Broken & Hopeful
I was talking with a counselee the other day about the impact of the Gospel on our daily lives. I think we often separate the saving life of Christ from the day-to-day, seeing it instead as a one-time deliverance for the future rather than affecting the hell I’m in right now. I’ve been seeing these videos going around on Facebook in which kids ask their step-father to adopt them legally. Every one of them makes me break down as I watch these grown men get weepy immediately upon realizing the kids they have raised as their own are asking them to make it official and recognizing their hard work and dedication to them in that way. Then it hit me the other day—that’s what God has done for us and He gets really serious about talking about this adoption. He has transferred us from darkness to light (Col 1:13). He calls us sons not slaves (Gal 4:7). This is a really big deal to Him.So what’s the big deal about adoption? The kids in these videos were already being treated like these men’s actual children—why did they want adoption legally? I think for the same reason that adoption is important to God. It’s a recognition of the commitment already made (by Jesus on the cross) that allows an expectation and desire to honor on the part of the child. He’s already done all the work, and will continue to do it throughout our daily lives. But our adoption allows us to approach the throne of grace with confidence—to come to our gracious, patient Father with all of the cares of the day knowing that He will continue to be just as He always is. And we expect Him to show up and we honor Him in our choices, not because we operate out of fear, but because we are His kids and we love Him! And then He promises to be enough for all that stuff in daily life through His Life within us!So whatever hell you are facing today, you have a good Father who loves you and is working all things together for your good. His Life will be enough for all the patience, wisdom, strength, determination, bravery and love you need. You simply must look to Him for it. We approach our Father and ask, knowing that He is already at work meeting the needs in us through His Life. He doesn’t abandon us after saving us from a distant separation. He walks with us and commits His Life to us over and over every day.You are adopted. You are transferred. You are free. Live out of that truth.Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:6-7
