The Father's Love part 4
I'm stuck on Galatians 4:6. "And becasue we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father"" (NLT). This picture--this truth--about God (a Father loving His Son) is so powerful and so important that even though we ARE His Son(s), He sent us the Spirit of His only begotten Son (Jesus) so that we might KNOW ourselves as His Son(s), and in that way experience His love as it was always intended. Experience His love in its fulness. Know Him as loving heavenly Father and ourselves as beloved Son(s) in whom He is well pleased. Look at Romans 8:29 (NLT), "For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." The KJV says it like this, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." This is my favorite verse to compare and contrast against Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Don't be conformed to this world. But be transformed. Transformed into what? Jesus. Conformed to the image of God's Son. WE ARE His Son(s). Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body... God in OUR flesh, love in OUR body--is our true identity. But it takes a transformation. Being transformed into what we have already been transformed into. How? By the renewing of our minds. By the Spirit of His Son taking up abode, or dwelling, in our hearts. And this transformation--USING the mind of Christ that is already in us--is what prompts us to BE who we are. We ARE His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. When we KNOW and BELIEVE that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased... we can behave as His Son. We can cry out, "Abba, Father." We can know and experiene the Father's love. Look: Adam and Jesus were both sons of God. The only two men who have ever lived. The difference is that Jesus is the BELOVED Son of God. Not because God loved Jesus and not Adam. Of course God loved Adam. God IS love. That's not just what He does, that's who He is. But because Jesus let Himself be loved by God. He knew who His Father was. He knew He didn't have to (and couldn't) earn Daddy's love. He knew that God loving Jesus (and us) is not about what we do. It's about who we are. And who God is. It's about the ultimate truth of the universe--God is love and He loves you. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. It's all about love. Relating to God in the way that HE wants us to relate to Him. Knowing and being known. Loving and being loved. Loving BECAUSE we are loved. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Breathing it in and breathing it out. Experiencing God's love with every breath we take and every move we make. Living His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love by letting HIM live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. Not trying to be like Jesus, but letting the Spirit of God's Son transform us into who we truly are. Into who we have always been. Letting the light of the world--the light of life... the light of love--shine on us, and into us, and out of us, and through us, so that we can see clearly. See who we are by seeing who He is. A Son who is loved by His Father!