Editor's note: Enjoy today's devotion written for Devotionals Daily by Charles Martin, author of The Reason for Jesus.
*
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.— Romans 8:16 ESV
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not just about escaping hell. Yes, we do that, but it’s only the beginning. We are headed somewhere. There is a destination beyond the empty tomb. And God the Father is about to take us there. God the Father transfers us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of the Son of His love.
But the good news doesn’t end there either. Despite the fact that we spent our entire lives in rebellion against Him aiding and abetting a rival king, God the Father adopts us. Into His family. He calls us His own and He does this with a new name. A name only He knows but when we hear it, we know it is us.
But after adopting us, He doesn’t relegate us to second-class children who do all the chores and earn their way back to good. In the next millisecond, He grants us all the rights and privileges of His Son. We are now coheirs with Jesus.
From rebel to heir.
And being an heir—a coheir with Christ—is a really big deal. I doubt most all of us have any real idea what this means. I surely don’t. But I want to. And regardless of whether or not I can understand it, I believe it. Because His Word tells me which is why I put it above. When the enemy whispers how I’m a piece of crap for all the stuff I do and think and all my wretched sin, I’m going to hold up these scriptures and say, “Talk to the hand that wrote them.”
But His love of us doesn’t end there either. He doesn’t just stick us in some far corner of Heaven and not want anything to do with us because every time He sees us we’re a reminder of what our sin cost His Son. No. He pulls us up into His lap and covers our face in kisses.
Does this make any sense to you? Because it does not to me. I believe it because He says it, but I know me and I am so unworthy that only an inconceivable kind of love explains such an illogical exchange. His Son for me. But that’s just it.
This is love of the Father for the Son. For us. For you and me.
What’s more, God the Father is not simply a judge who acquits a criminal and sends him on his merry way. Paul explained this in his second letter to the church in Corinth:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. — 2 Corinthians 5:17
"God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself” (5:18) is “in Christ... reconciling the world to Himself” (5:19).
It would be one thing if God simply justified us. Acquitted us. That would be more than any of us ever deserved. But then where does that leave us? It leaves us just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned, but what good is that if I’m not in relationship with Him? If I’m justified but not reconciled to, has He restored what was lost in the fall?
To be reconciled means that after He acquits us, made possible through the death of His Son, He steps down off the bench, and walks across the room. Then, surprisingly, He wraps His arms around us and leads us to His home where we take the elevator to the top floor and stares out across the world He owns. Once our eyes focus, He says to us, “You’re My child. I’ve adopted you. I’m your Father. You’re my heir. This is now your Home.” Then He waves His hand across the horizon. “And all this is yours.
You’re a coheir with My Son, Jesus.”
I sometimes have a tough time believing this. Not because I don’t believe His Word but because I know me—and I know how unworthy I am of such favor. Which shows you how little I really understand the Cross and the grace of Jesus.
Mercy is withholding from someone what they deserve. Grace is giving them what they don’t. The Father manifested both at the Cross. When I hear these words that I’ve been adopted into the family of God, my knee-jerk is to pull back, shrink. Ask Him, “Are you sure?” As if He doesn’t know what He’s getting. But His offer of adoption has nothing to do with your or my worthiness. This inheritance, this being adopted in the family of God, this reigning as a coheir with Christ, this “I am a child of God,” this “I am your Father,” is not predicated on our deserving of it. We don’t. It’s simply what He, in His love of us and for us.
This is the inconceivable exchange.
The fracture that occurred in the garden, the relationship that was lost with the Father, our ability and our invitation to call Him “Abba,” were made available at the Cross.
They were returned to us. Restored. It is at the Cross that we were “reconciled to.”
When John says He has given us the right to become His children, this is what he’s talking about. For all of us who are “in Christ,” have been reconciled. Adopted. Given an inheritance. We are now His children (1 John 3:1–3).
To whom is this adoption, this offer of sonship, made available? To “whoever believes in Him” (John 3:16).
That’s my Father. And yours. He’s just that way.
Father, Abba, I am staggered by the truth that You have adopted me as Your child. “Thank You” doesn’t begin to express what my new life in Christ means, but I’ll start there. Amen.
Watch the Video
Written for Devotionals Daily by Charles Martin, author of The Reason for Jesus.
* * *
Your Turn
Do you know that when you chose Jesus, He had already chosen you? Do you know deep in your heart that you’re a co-heir with Christ? It’s because that’s how astonishing God’s love for us is! It’s because of who He is! ~ Devotionals Daily