Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Slaves or Sons

Our Small Group is reading the book "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. It is really amazing. A life-changing book for sure. I think all of us in our group can agree that the book, which we had been reading during Matt Johnson's series on the Holy Spirit at LCC, really opened our eyes to the fact that we do tend to ignore the Holy Spirit. Some of us even had wrong ideas of Who the Holy Spirit is and what His plans are for our lives. I can say over the last 8 weeks of our study and the LCC series, I have sat week after week and watched and listened to my dear friends change and grow. I know I have grown too. 


One of the parts of our study for last night's meeting was discussing the concepts of slaves and sons. 


Romans 8:15 says:
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”


This verse is just full of good stuff. In it, we see that upon receiving Christ as Savior, we are welcomed into the family of God- we belong to Him, no longer slaves to ourselves or the sins of the world. The differences between slaves and sons are so significant:  Slaves feel mistreated and unworthy of living to their full potential. Sons are treated with benevolence and look forward to a full, productive future. Slaves have no confidence in approaching their master. Sons can approach their fathers with confidence, knowing that their best interest will be considered. Slaves feel trapped and continue on day after day, never working to their full potential- just doing enough to get by or stay alive. Sons have freedom and thrive in that freedom- looking forward to each new day as a chance to explore, to do more, and enjoy life. 


We discussed all of this last night. It's awesome to think that by the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the shed blood of Jesus, we can be free sons and daughters of God. Before knowing Christ, people are in such bondage. They plod trough their days addicted to self and unlimited sins,  just trying to survive- unconfident, uncertain of the future, not recognizing their worth. After coming to Christ and living in His power (the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead lives in us, by the way), we have the freedom, the empowerment, and the motivation we need to live a full life, satisfied in the love of the King of kings. 


We are truly children of the Most High God. Sometimes we forget as Christians though. We forget WHOSE we are. This past Sunday, leading worship, I felt really strongly that people needed to be reminded of this and we sang 3 simple words, over and over " WE ARE YOURS". We do belong to Him. He has adopted us in and we have every right and privilege to approach Him with boldness and confidence, knowing that everything we bring to Him will be treated with benevolence and mercy. So today, may we all remember that we belong to Him. We are no longer slaves to anything but His love and glory. He wants us to thrive and be free!


 Lord, thank you for making a way for us. We do not deserve to be called your children, and yet You are so merciful that You wouldn't have it any other way. You want us to be confident in our salvation and in our relationship with You. Help us to remember that we are Yours forever and You are forever our God. Fill us with boldness- let our hearts beat as Yours today- we want to care about the things You care about and love the people You love in this world. Thank You for freedom- we accept it as a gift and embrace it completely. Amen. 

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