Read: Romans 8:12-25
You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (v. 15)
Jesus once told his followers, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:29). While this promise of blessing is completely fulfilled in eternity, we get a taste of it now as God brings us into his own family, and assures us that we are not only his children, but his heirs!
As God gives us new hearts and new minds and fills us with his Holy Spirit, that Spirit testifies to us that we are children of God. Paul calls this the “Spirit of adoption” (Rom. 8:15). As members of God’s family, we seek to put to death the sins of the flesh, and to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives. Being adopted by the Father makes us heirs of the kingdom—fellow heirs with Christ Jesus, our brother. That inheritance is coming; even creation itself groans for the day when our redemption will be fully revealed, because then all things will be freed from death and corruption.
What a family inheritance that will be! Verse 18 reminds us that our present sufferings are not worth being compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us. It’s a legacy bought with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, an inheritance “kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). —Laura N. Sweet
As you pray, rejoice that you are God’s child, and an heir of the kingdom!
About the Author
Laura N. Sweet is a wife, mother, grandmother, and former Christian schoolteacher from Midland, Michigan. She writes devotional material for both adults and children, and her work has appeared in more than a dozen publications.
