Mid-Week Encouragement

4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. –Galatians 4:4-7

Recently, my Pastor went on a mission trip to Uganda. One day while visiting an orphanage, my Pastor and his wife got to do something very special. The police had brought in a baby earlier that someone had found in a trash can covered with trash and they (my Pastor’s group) were asked to name the baby. As they stood there “stunned” (as my Pastor described it) his wife spoke up and suggested they name him Samuel, because in Scripture Samuel was dedicated unto the Lord. So now this baby who was left alone and unnamed has a good name to be called by as he grows up.

This story struck my heart very hard because all I could think about was how baby Samuel’s story relates to us. Sure most likely none of us were literally left in a trashcan to die alone unnamed, but we were all at one point (or still are if you haven’t accepted Christ) separated from God. To put it more simply, we ourselves were orphans. But thankfully, as this week’s passage says, “God sent forth his son…so that we might receive adoption as sons.” As hard as it may be to accept, we were dirty and covered in the trash of our own sin and our trashcan was our own state apart from God. We deserve in every way to still be orphans, which is what makes God’s grace that much more amazing. But God accepts us as His sons and we become His heirs.

Without being adopted we would have no inheritance, but God puts his Spirit into our hearts, freeing us from the slavery of sin, and making us a son. The Apostle Paul uses the word Son because a Son, in Biblical days, was the one who received the inheritance. Had he actually wrote sons and daughters (as some translations write), he would have had some confused readers. We must understand the difference to properly grasp exactly what is being said.
Take the orphanage that baby Samuel is in as an example. It is full of boys because families would rather adopt daughters to receive dowry (money from the groom’s family) as opposed to adding another heir to the family inheritance. I am so thankful that God’s ways are higher than ours, and we who have been adopted in are all treated the same, as SONS, and we can share in His mighty inheritance. Whether you are a fellow Brother or Sister in Christ, I look forward to receiving God’s inheritance with you!