Scripture

See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God; and we are.

~1 John 3:1, LSB

Quote

The New Testament gives us two yardsticks for measuring God’s love: the cross {propitiation} and sonship {Adoption}.

~J.I. Packer

I had not given it any thought before reading Packer, but I do believe he is right. Packer introduces chapter nineteen {Knowing God} with this statement: A Christian is one who has God as his Father. At first, I thought it was an oversimplification. I thought, he is simply creating words to fill a chapter of his book, but the more I read, the more fascinated I became with what he was saying. We all agree that the PROPITIATION is big and there is no salvation without the shed blood of Jesus as an offering for our sin. The atonement is huge. Paul said in First Corinthians one, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. So, the cross in paramount. There is no salvation for anyone without the cross. Packer believes that adoption goes hand in hand with the propitiation {Cross}. He sees it like this, and it makes sense. God is both our JUDGE and our FATHER. As our JUDGE, He justified us by the precious blood of Christ. In so doing, He was just in declaring us not guilty. We call this justification. Then He adopted us into His family, and we became his sons and daughters. Here He was acting as our FATHER.

There is a difference between the naturally born and the adopted. When the Romans adopted, and it was popular in their culture, they choose the child they wanted to adopt. Usually, these children were teenagers and had already exhibited skills and intellect. If a Roman nobleman had a lazy or otherwise incompetent son, he shopped for more deserving and capable son to be his heir and carry on the family tradition. Practically the opposite happened when God adopted us. He did not choose us because we were worthy, but in spite of the fact that we were not. Adoptive parents choose a child and then seek to win the child’s affection by loving the child they have adopted. This is true with us. We love Him because He first loved us. Think about the privileges of an adoptive child of God:

• We are joint heirs with Christ… {Romans 8:16-17} The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. {Galatians 4:17} You are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. {Galatians 4:17}
• We will share in Christ glory. God exalted Christ and He will exalt us… {John 12:26] If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. {Colossians 3:4} When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. {Ephesians 2:5-6} Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

It has the makings of a Fairy Tale: The King adopts a peasant and makes him or her a prince or princess. John Newton summed it up in two words: AMAZING GRACE!

Extra

I don’t know for a fact, but I think everyone got rain yesterday. When we got up, our phone apps had 100% and it was a sight for sore eyes. We visited the Terrace in Priceville a little after eleven and it came a gully washer there. We came back by Tractor Supply in Hartselle, and I got soaked again, they got a deluge. I could have caught 500 gallons of water, but my pump doesn’t work automatically, and I was not home but I still got over 100 gallons. Our water bill last month was over 70$ and my accountant went ape. She will get over it. Our watermelons, cantaloupes, peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes, squash and okra are doing good. There is only one problem, and it is not bad, I will have to mow’da’lawn this weekend. That is French for cut the grass.

GP family we finish MERE CHRISTIANITY tonight, LORD willing.

I hope you got rain. Have a great day. Thanks for reading the blog.