Whose Your Daddy?

Through Christ we are adopted.

Ephesians 1:5-6 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

Before we continue, for those readers who struggle with this Scripture and the whole “Predestination” theology thing...

“Predestined us” means all of mankind, past, present and future (even that guy who walks his dog on your lawn).

“Adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself” means the finished work of the cross.

“According to the good pleasure of His will” means your salvation is available because God’s grace, through Jesus, made salvation available and that He is pleased to have made it available.

“To the praise of the glory of His grace” means just exactly what it says!

WOO HOO!!!

God through this adoption becomes more than Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge; He becomes Father!

What is this adoption?

Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, where we receive complete forgiveness of sin, we become complete in the family of God. Not complete in the family of denomination or religion. We become complete in Christ and we are part of (adopted into) God's family. With everything that comes to each of us as a family.

Here's a short list of practical benefits of adoption (there are more!):

Adoption means God wanted you to be in his family. He chose you to be His child before you were even born (Eph 1.5).

Adoption means God will never let you go. He is protecting you and providing for you all the time, even when you don’t see it. Furthermore, he will be sure to get you home. John 10:28-29 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

Adoption means you have continual access to God and can call Him by the most intimate of terms: "Abba! Father!" Ephesians 2:18 “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” Romans 8:15 “ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Adoption means God has made you brand new. You are a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Adoption means God’s attitude toward you is always one of love, even when you fail Colossians 2:13-14 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Adoption means that Jesus is your elder brother Hebrews 2:11 “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, forwhich reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Adoption means you are a member of the household of faith (the church), along with all others who trust in Christ Ephesians 2:19 “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

Adoption means you have a glorious inheritance awaiting you 1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Welcome to the family of God!!