What do we learn about God as we contemplate adoption and the fact of our adoption into God's family thru faith in the all-sufficient work of Jesus Christ? That's what I want us to contemplate today and over the next few days.

For today, we look at what the fact of our adoption into God's family teaches us about God's love and its greatness.

In the New Testament we have essentially two ways of measuring God's love. One example, primary example, is the cross. See Romans 5:1-10 and 1 John 4;8-10 for evidence of this in Scripture. Both passages show us that the cross is a clear display of God's love.

The second example we see is our adoption, or sonship. See 1 John 3:1 for this clearly when it states "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are".

Think for a moment of the culture that existed when this was written regarding adoption to see just how foreign God's love for us truly is. In the ancient world, rich individuals who had no children to hand their estate off to would find young adults who were able to manage the estate well and they would "adopt" these individuals ultimately for somewhat selfish reasons and based upon the abilities and worth of the person being adopted. They had something to offer to the one adopting them. The person being adopted is deemed "worthy" of bearing the family name and are thus chosen for what they offer the one doing the adopting.

Yet those whom God adopts, God does so out of free love and not because there is something in our character to warrant or deserve being adopted, or that we are worthy in any way. Our adoption into God's family is despite the fact that we do not deserve it and have nothing to offer; our adoption into the family of God is completely one-sided on all fronts.

We are not fit for God's family. God is adopting sinners, individuals worthy of wrath, haters of God, rebels. And yet in His great love He exalts us to a place of honor as sons and daughters, co-heirs with Christ thru faith and the forgiveness of our sin, all at His own cost. Amazing.

This is how great and even foreign God's love for us is. God chooses to love us, not because we are worthy or deserve to be loved, but because God is that awesome. This is not a dutiful exercise. God chose to make a way for you to be adopted believer. Dwell on that. Find your identity in that. Not your nationality, family name, athletic prowess, bank account, status - more than all of these, find your identity and worth in Christ, in your adoption by God's free choosing.

God needed not to do anything except punish us due our sin, and yet He in His great love crucified His Son who knew no sin that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Dwell on this amazing truth. No believer ever needs to doubt God's love. The cross proves it. Our adoption proves it.

In His great love, God redeemed, forgave and took us in as sons and daughters and gave Himself to us as Father.

And His love for us doesn't stop with the act of our adoption. It goes on every day as we said yesterday to provide for His children. In every day, in every way, God will spend eternity showing us His love for us and His awesomeness and thereby increasing our love for Him. Our future is an eternity of God's love.

Dwell on this great love of God for you in Christ believer. And if you are reading this and are not a believer, know that God is inviting you into His family thru Christ. Adoption by God can be yours today thru faith in the all-sufficient work of Christ to satisfy your sin debt and wash your sins white as snow, separate you from your sin as far as the eats is from the west. Repent today of your sin, call upon Jesus as Savior and Lord, and believe in Him and His work as your substitute sin payment. And be saved, adopted. And then live in light of this every moment of every day believer. Enjoy being God's child and loved by God every day and in every thing.     

May the certainty and intensity of God's love for us overwhelm us every day no matter what we face. May our adoption into God's family thru faith in Christ guide us and inform us no matter what we face.