Adopted Sons and Daughters

[Daily Devotional]

Adopted Sons and Daughters 

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. Eph. 1:
5, 6. 

Before the foundations of the earth were laid the covenant was made that all
who were obedient, all who should through the abundant grace provided become
holy in character and without blame before God by appropriating that grace,
should be children of God. 

We owe everything to grace, free grace, sovereign grace. Grace in the
covenant ordained our adoption. Grace in the Saviour effected our
redemption, our regeneration, and our adoption to heirship with Christ. 

As we fully believe that we are His by adoption, we may have a foretaste of
heaven. . . . We have a nearness to Him, and can hold sweet communion with
Him. We obtain distinct views of His tenderness and compassion, and our
hearts are broken and melted with contemplation of the love that is given to
us. We feel indeed an abiding Christ in the soul. We abide in Him, and feel
at home with Jesus. . . . We have a realizing sense of the love of God, and
we rest in His love. No language can describe it, it is beyond knowledge. We
are one with Christ, our life is hid with Christ in God. We have the
assurance that when He who is our life shall appear, then shall we also
appear with Him in glory. With strong confidence we can call God our Father.

All who have been born into the heavenly family are in a special sense the
brethren of our Lord. The love of Christ binds together the members of His
family, and wherever that love is manifest there the divine relationship is
revealed. . . . 

Love to man is the earthward manifestation of the love of God. It was to
implant this love, to make us children of one family, that the King of glory
became one with us. And when His parting words are fulfilled, "Love one
another, as I have loved you" (John 15: 12); when we love the world as He
has loved it, then for us His mission is accomplished. We are fitted for
heaven; for we have heaven in our hearts. 

>From God's Amazing Grace - Page 53