Month: March 2024

“But How Do I Know I’m Part of God’s Family?”

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“But How Do I Know I’m Part of God’s Family?”
Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6)
In Galatians 3:23–4:7, Paul wrestles with the question “Who inherits the promises given to Abraham of an eternal life with God?” Or, in our modern vernacular, who is saved?
The answer is everyone who trusts God to justify them through Christ’s death and resurrection. All who believe—who take God at his word—regardless of their gender, social standing, or ethnicity, are now “sons” of God. This means that all who believe inherit equally. There are no second-class family members seated around God’s dining room table.
But how do you know if you have a seat? The acid test of sonship comes from something inside you that insists—demands—that you think of God as your Father. It’s the Spirit of his Son that he has sent into your heart that says, “You are related to him.” Even in your worst moments, you know that you can turn to Him and he will hear you, because you’re family. And so you don’t even think about it. You just expect Him to take your call, because that’s what family does.
This is an experiential argument, not a conceptual one. It asks you whether you find yourself naturally, if unexpectedly, turning to God in random moments of your life.
• Do you ever feel grateful and silently whisper, “Thank you”?
• Do you ever get upset and tell God how frustrated you are?
• Have you ever been sick or in pain and asked him to heal you?
• Have you ever urged Him to make the future turn out a certain way?
• Have you ever felt cut to the heart and asked Him to comfort you?
• Do you ever find yourself struck by the beauty of a sunset, the delicacy of a spiderweb, the power of a thunderstorm, the quietness of a snowfall, the softness of a baby’s cheek, or the loyalty of a pet, and then find yourself marveling at the One who made it?
Responses like these—reaching out to God or associating him with the things you experience in life—make sense only if there is something real between the two of you. Something that transcends your fears and uncertainty. Something that’s there whether you consciously think about it or not.
When you instinctively turn to God—not to make all your wishes come true, but in order to invite him into your world or to share yourself with him—you are demonstrating that his Spirit really is inside of you crying out, “Father!” It’s the evidence that you are family.
Being family wasn’t your idea first. God put the Spirit of his Son in you. And since he has done that, you are not just family for the moment—you are family forever.
Think back over the past few days. Were there times when you casually, instinctively reached out to God?
Be honest with yourself: do you have a sense inside that you can talk to God as your Father? If so, thank Him for his Spirit. If not, ask Him to adopt you and give you his Spirit.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO RECEIVE FROM THIS QUICK REFRESHER.
PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM




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