Upside Down, Inside Out

Read 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. — Ephesians 1:4-6 (NIV)

The apostle Paul tells us that God chose us before the foundations of the world to be His adopted sons and daughters, beloved, blessed, and provided for by His heavenly riches.

Upside Down

Life will eventually turn every person upside down, inside out. No one is immune.

Not the mom in the suburbs who finds out her teen daughter is pregnant. Not the husband who is entangled in an affair with a woman who is not his wife. Not the kid whose parents are strung out on drugs. Not the girl entrenched in human trafficking. Not the boy with HIV or his brother without any prospect of enough to eat.

Not the woman who finds out her whole sense of identity is based on a family connection that turns out to be a lie.

Not you.

Not me.

But just as life will upend you, so will love.

God’s love, which knows you and claimed you before you were even born, can take you beyond yourself, as it did Jesus, who left heaven to go to the cross and pass through the grave in order to bring us back home.

His love can bring you through emotional earthquakes. Love like Christ’s can lift you out of betrayal and hurt. It can deliver you from any mess. Love like that can release you from every prison of fear and confusion. And love like God’s can fill you up till it spills out of you, and you have to speak about it, share it, spread it around.

Despite my resolute (or was it desperate?) clinging to God’s Word and His promises, I’d have been something other than human if I hadn’t been emotionally stunned when my mother disclosed to me one day that I was adopted. But I was determined not to be daunted by it. So many people allow life-changing news to drive them into anger, resentment, and depression, to push them to question their identity and self-worth and value. I chose to trust that, in ways I could not yet see, God would use this.

God would not only uphold me as I worked through it, but He would honor it by pointing out ways in which this totally unexpected and life-changing revelation could be used for His glory. I had no idea yet what those ways would be. But I had faith that they would come.

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Your Turn

Do you wonder if God really loves you? Do you wonder if He sees and cares about your current circumstances? He does, for He has chosen you to be His own child, adopted into His holy family. He knows and loves you more than you could imagine. No matter what you face in your life, God will be there to help you.

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