adopted

Yesterday I wrote about being freed from death row. What a gift, to be pardoned for a crime I was fully guilty of, to be set free to live life un-condemned.

Today, though, even better news! 

Galatians 4:4-7 “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

The pardon from my death sentence would have been more than enough, but, if Paul is correct, Jesus rescued me from death row so that God could adopt me. It’s like Little Orphan Annie, except Shirley Temple was cute and loveable and I’m a nasty old sinner. 

But what a plot! The condemned prisoner set free by royal pardon, and then met at the door of the jail by his Savior. “Come with me,” the Savior says. “Where to?” I asked. “I’m taking you home. My dad completed the adoption paperwork, and you’re my brother now.” So off I go, with a room in the family mansion and a job in the family business. 

That job is keeping me away from home right now; I’m living for a while as an expatriate because there’s work here for me to do. But I’ll do it gladly because, when it’s done, I get to go home. I pray that God will be gracious enough not to leave me here one day longer than the work takes.

That’s what Jesus’ return will mean for me – it’s my ticket home. That’s the day when he will say, “Good work, brother. Dad’s pleased. He wants to see you, and your room’s ready. Let’s go.” All because of Christmas, when Jesus himself was an expatriate for a time in order to complete my rescue.

Whether that day comes with my death or at the end of this old earth, it can’t come too soon. Watch and wait!