We are nearing the end of our discussion of the gifts God gives us at the time of our salvation as recorded in the first two chapters of Ephesians. The fact that this study has gone for as many weeks as it has demonstrated the level of God’s grace poured out through a simple act of our faith.
Many of the descriptions of who I am in Christ use analogy to help us understand them. Today’s is one of those. The Apostle Paul tells us that as genuine Christ followers, we are members of God’s household.
One of the difficulties of these analogies comes if our earthly experience does not meet God’s best. We dealt with this when discussing God as our Father. If we had a poor relationship with ort earthly father, it may be difficult to fully grasp what it means to have a loving, compassionate Father in heaven. In the same way, if our home is not a place of peace and safety, we may not see being a part of God’s household as a huge benefit. However, if you can, put aside your own experience to understand what God intends for us to enjoy.
The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Theologically, we know that God the Father and Jesus are co-equal, eternal, and all-powerful. Jesus was not born to or created by God. This term is not intended to reveal the origin of Jesus. It is using terms we will understand to help us grab hold of the relationship Jesus shares with God. As a beloved son, Jesus is the possessor of all that is God’s, all the glories of heaven.
This leads us to a better understanding of our relationship. While Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, we are the adopted children of God. God has chosen us to be his children. As with earthly adoptions, this was a very expensive process, it cost God the life of his Son. This is a demonstration of the depth of God’s love for us and his desire to make up part of his family.
As such, there are many benefits that come our way. We have discussed many of them in these posts, however, we are incapable in our finite minds of fully understanding all that we have. This is pointed out in Ephesians 1:3, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. What this entails is more than we could ever ask or imagine. As God’s children, we are joint heirs with Jesus. We have all the rights and privileges that come with being part of this perfect family.
I have a dear friend who was abandoned by his natural parents when he was seven years old. He was taken in by his aunt and uncle and was raised in a loving environment. Although they never legally adopted him, he always referred to them as Mom and Dad and his natural cousins became his brothers. This was not only a loving and godly home, but his “Dad” became very successful in the oil industry and was quite wealthy.
When my friend’s uncle passed away several years ago, it was discovered that only his natural children were included in the inheritance. My friend got nothing. He was not upset about the money but was devastated that he was not seen as worthy of being included in the inheritance. It took him several years to deal with this feeling of betrayal and abandonment. I only share this account to assure you that this could never happen with our Lord. Our adoption papers are signed and sealed by the Holy Spirit. In fact, the basis of our inheritance has already been distributed because we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. It only gets better from this point forward. When this life is over, we will have all the blanks filled in and fully understand what it means to be a part of the household of God.