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“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.” Abraham Lincoln
Scripture & Devotion: Scriptural focus: Ephesians 1:4-6
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace,which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
We’re heading into the book of Ephesians for our next sermon series, focusing on the ideas of grace and peace. Foundational to our understanding of every single thing in this letter is this:
"In love, He predestined us for adoption to sonship (or daughtership) through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His good pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one He loves."
I love how Paul just keeps the sentence going…on and on it goes overflowing with wonderful words of encouragement about how much and how great is the love of God for us through Christ Jesus.
My YouVersion Bible app has a note for this term “adoption to sonship” – it says this: a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture.
As believers in Christ, we have been adopted – we will receive an inheritance through Jesus Christ. We get everything! We do not need to doubt that.
We have a newly adopted granddaughter – Isabella. She is wonderful and beautiful and truly a gift from God, as is every child. Isabella’s story is involved and miraculous and complex, like so many adoption stories. There were, and are, periods of waiting, of uncertainty, of anxiousness about whether this thing, this plan, will really come to fruition. The fear that the unexpected might happen and change everything. And what then?
All followers of Jesus all have an adoption story. And if you think about it, aren’t all of our adoption stories involved, miraculous and complex …. full of unexpected twists and turns as the story unfolds? We don’t quite know where it will end up, but we know we are adopted, and we have a Father who cares for us.
I wonder if we know people who are not yet followers of Jesus, or maybe someone for whom you’re praying to know Jesus better. Perhaps they are at the very beginning their own adoption story and even though we can’t see what’s going to happen, we can trust that God’s heart is to draw them to Himself. His desire is to adopt them as well. We want so badly to see the end of their redemption & adoption story, but sometimes we're called to pray and walk through the middle of their story with them.
Think about your own adoption story as part of God’s larger story of redemption of everyone. Remember all of the twists and turns as you made the journey to that place of surrender. Praise God for that journey. Share your story of adoption with someone else. Encourage others to remember their own adoption stories and pray for those who are still on an adoption journey of their own.
Karen Callis
Prayer:
Lord,
Words fail us as we remember all that you have brought us out of by adopting us as your sons and daughters. All we can say is THANK YOU!