Epeshians 5:1-2
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
My pastor who has eight children, most of them being adopted, once preached a powerful message on God’s adoption of us into His family. He did this by talking about the long and grueling process of adoption in this country. Our church is real big on the foster child care crisis and has a concerned heart for the orphan. As he preached, he laid out the whole process of what a parent that wants to adopt has to go through. Wow, what an ordeal it is to adopt! I don’t remember all the specifics but I remember he mentioned the cost being very expensive, lots of paperwork and interviews, and so many other hoops and ladders you have to go through in order to become a parent. He eventually got to relating this process to what God did for us on the cross. You see, God paid a hefty price just so that we could call Him daddy! Wow! Just sit back and reflect on that. The Bible says we are to imitate God as beloved children. Do you really know what that means? You see before we knew God, the Bible says “when we were dead in our sins, Christ died for us.” God redeemed us! In other words, He paid the price by sacrificing His life. He purchased us with His blood, so that we can now be of His blood. Our original parents were sin and death, yet God the Father chose us and wanted us to join His family! Have you ever seen a foster child’s reaction when he or she finds out that they are getting two loving parents they can call mom and dad? I have and let me tell you, there’s not a dry eye in the house. It’s an amazing thing to watch. So many times as Christians, we fail to imitate God and love others not because we’re not Christians but because we’ve forgotten how amazing it is that we’re His kids! Have you taken the time to selflessly love someone lately? Jesus did it for us. God the Father paid everything to welcome us into His loving arms. If your love has gone cold, or you find yourself being critical, judging a lot, and struggling with sin, then maybe it’s time to warm up the love inside of you and remind yourself of your identity in Him. Maybe it’s time to remember who you were before you knew Christ and who you are now that you know Him. Maybe it’s time to revisit the family tree that you are now apart of by the grace of God. And remember it’s not your doing. Oh, don’t for one second think you had something to do with your adoption. What child chooses his parents? Neither do we choose God. He chose us before the creation of the world and we just respond in faith. How fortunate and how much it blesses us that we are to be able to participate along with Him. And that’s why He calls us to imitate Him and walk in love. How do we walk in love? How do we love others? As He loved us and gave Himself up for us. That’s how we love. We look at others and love them with everything we got with the same love we would give to our own children. And what good parent doesn’t want the best for their kids? What good parent wouldn’t give up their lives if it meant saving their kids from the brink of death? When we can learn to love like this, we will begin to see more orphans being rescued from the parents of sin and death and brought into this wonderful family as well. I can only imagine what an amazing family reunion it will be when we finally see Jesus face to face. Just picture this, a great big house with a great big yard and a huge table with lots and lots of food. God the Father grilling the burgers, Jesus serving our tables and filling up our glasses with everlasting water and the Holy Spirit sitting at the table fellowshipping with us, together as brothers and sisters in unity. With one beautiful voice we all worship together declaring our love for our Heavenly Father! What a sight that will be! Let’s not just wait for that day though. Let’s make it happen today, let’s come together as one, let’s love one another as He loved us. Let’s love as His beloved children.
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