Daily Devotional for Saturday, January 18

Spirit of Adoption

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father;· Romans 8:14,15.

If you have never known anyone personally who has adopted a child, it is such a beautiful act of love. Though we have not personally been through the adoption process, my husband and I have witnessed several adoption stories within our group of friends and family. In every single situation, we have seen children become sons and daughters and grafted into a family. While I know that all adoption stories are accompanied by sadness in some way, adoptive parents demonstrate the love of God in a powerful way. At the end of the day, adopted children have no fewer legal rights than those who were born into the family.

If we look at what Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, he addressed some of the same issues as with thebelievers in Galatia. He said that when we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit through faith, we become sons and daughters. We no longer live under the spirit of slavery in oppression and fear, but instead we “have received the Spirit of adoption.” The God of the universe wants us to be His sons and daughters. By adoption, we are now heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Paul used the title “Abba, Father” in regard to our relationship with God. This is only used three times in Scripture (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6) and has a deeper meaning than simply Dad. The term Abba is Aramaic and has the connotation of obedience. Being his children, we receive our inheritance while crying out “Father, I obediently surrender to You!”

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Every one of us has an adoption story if we have placed our faith in Christ. When was the last time you shared your testimony of faith with someone?

Ashley Ridings