As we saw in last week’s blog, it is sin that causes us to be alienated from God, but when Jesus forgives our sins, we are immediately reconciled to God. We also saw that reconciliation is such an important word in the biblical text that its message is part of the “Good News” that is to be shared with others. Interestingly, reconciliation brings us into a new relationship with God, and this new relationship results in the believer becoming His child. At the beginning of his gospel, the Apostle John wrote, 

“To as many as received Him, to them He gives the privilege to become children of God   (Jn. 1:12). 

This happens because of God’s great love for us. Again, John wants us to realize,   

“…how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 Jn. 3:1).  

What John is saying is that those who have been reconciled to God are not just “called” children of God, but they “really are” His children. 

But there is more. Everyone who is reconciled to God becomes His child by “adoption.” There are no “naturally born” children of God. That is, no one becomes a child of God by inheritance from their parents or any other relative. We are all “born” outside of God’s family, and it’s only when we are reconciled to God through Christ that we are brought into His family. And we are brought into this family by “adoption.” This means that every Christian is, in fact, an “adopted” child. 

Furthermore, our “adoption” was not an afterthought by God, but it was always part of His plan from the very beginning of time. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, 

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will…” (Eph. 1:5).

And Paul goes on to say that this plan for adoption was not only on God’s heart since the beginning of time, but that it became a reality when Jesus came. As Paul writes to the Galatian churches, 

“…in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons…Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Gal.4:5-7).

As adopted children of God, every Christian is an heir of all the blessings that God has for us, both in this present life and for eternity. If you are not yet a child of God, you are missing out on all that God has planned for you. Maybe it’s time for you to be reconciled to God through Jesus and become His child, entering His family just like every one of His children, by adoption.