As a daughter of missionaries, I had memorized John 3:16 in both English and Portuguese. I knew that God loved me and that Christ had died for me. But it still felt like a generic kind of love. So, God loves me. But with what kind of love does He love me?
In a letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul declares, “When the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children†(Galatians 4:4-5). We see here the purpose for Christ’s death and resurrection: to adopt us as God’s children.
What does it mean to be adopted? Adoption is the process that makes a child, who was not originally part of a family, now part of that family. When a child is adopted, they can take on their new family’s name and identity.
The legal process of a child becoming part of a new family provides an incredible picture of what happened to me when I trusted Christ as my Savior: I was adopted into—made part of—God’s family. As Galatians 4 says, Christ died for my sins (every evil thing I’ve done, said, and thought—past, present, and future), and He rose from the dead so that I might be adopted as God’s child. I became part of God’s royal family. I went from being an enemy of God to being His precious child and a joint heir with Christ (Romans 5:10; 8:17).
If you’ve put your trust in Jesus, believing that He died for your sins and God raised Him from the dead, God has also adopted you. Once you were not a part of God’s family, but now you are His child, beloved and precious. With what kind of love does God love us? With the love of a father. • Angela Stanley
• Have you put your trust in Jesus and been adopted into God’s family? If you have questions about this, who is a trusted Christian in your life you could talk to? (You can also find more information on our “Know Jesus” page.)
• How might knowing that God loves you as His child affect how you understand His love?
See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1a (WEB)
Read Verses:
Titus.3.3-Titus.3.8|Eph.2.8-Eph.2.10|Titus.2.11-Titus.2.14
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