Heirs of God

Jean Paul Sarte once wrote, "Man can count on no one but himself. He is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth."

That's one view of life…a rather dismal view. If this is the backdrop against which life is painted then there is no purpose, no reason beyond just the few years that we spend here. This is all we have and all there is. This view casts us as orphans into a strange and foreign place.

But there is another view…a contrasting view. We're not orphans on our own, but we can be adopted into the family of God. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him" (vs. 14-17).

The fact that Christians are adopted into the spiritual family of God provides a sense of security, and acceptance, and well-being.

Spiritually speaking, there is only one of two families to which we belong – the family of God or the family of Satan. Jesus declared, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). He put it another way in this statement, "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Matt. 12:30). True discipleship is not a "both-and" proposition; it is an "either-or" one. Either one is a servant of the Lord or he is not. There is no in-between. Have you obeyed the gospel of Christ in being baptized and, thus, been adopted into the family of God? If not, why not?