At this time of year, as the calendar changes, we reflect on time itself. Scripture tells of a time when God revealed something for us all:
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” (Galatians 4:4-7)
It was good news. God in Jesus Christ constituted a family. You are part of that family. David Bartlett helps us understand how wonderful this is through a story: A family with both biological and adopted children was explaining adoption to the youngest child. When they finished explaining that Tommy was adopted—how he had been chosen, and waited for, and welcomed with joy—he cried out: “Oh, that’s wonderful. Can’t we adopt Mark too?”
Paul declares that God has adopted us all, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, in Jesus Christ. The early church found something very striking in the intimate name for God, “Abba,” the personal Aramaic term Jesus used in his most earnest moments.
Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew, “Don’t be anxious about what you will eat or what you will wear.” Jesus is speaking to people who have every reason to be anxious. God knows what you need, Jesus assures them, and God will provide for what you need. Seek God’s reign. Pursue God’s justice and peace. God will take care of your needs. That was a radical message — and it still is.
Just as the one and only Son faced God with such tenderness and closeness, he intends for us who follow him to do likewise. It is his Spirit which makes this happen. The Holy Spirit signals a whole new world of relationships, freedom, obedience and devotion. All this opens to us because “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.”
Will you dare to believe that for you and for Yates, that time is now?
Grace and Peace,