Character Traits

Day 2: The Spirit of Sonship

We've all felt rejected at some point in our lives. You may have felt as if you didn't belong anywhere; as if you were completely alone in this world with no one to care for you. You just feel empty inside. So you try to fill this emptiness with all sorts of things like new shiny cars, luxurious houses, designer clothes and expensive holidays, hoping that you'll be accepted because of these achievements. But still, the void remains.

I was like that too, always searching for something to make me feel whole. Now I know that only God's love and acceptance can truly fill that emptiness inside. Now that I've given my life to Him, I can truly say that I belong to Him. God has accepted me. He chose me even though I was proud and full of myself. He called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light. I became His through the Spirit who makes us sons and daughters of the Most High. And I know He will never reject me, even if I sometimes still fail Him. I fit in with Him and with His people. The Bible tells me that He wrote my name in the book of life and on the palm of His hand.

While it is terrific to know that we belong to God, it requires something on our part too. We have to live a Holy life. Eph. 1:4, 5 explains this in no uncertain terms: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." Again it is clear that we are saved through grace and became His children through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, but it demands of us to be "holy and blameless" at the same time.

The fact is that you cannot say that you belong to God, if you're still in control of your own life! You have to give up your life as a living sacrifice to Him. In Matt. 16:24, 25 Jesus says, "...if anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever loses his life for Me, will find it". We have to give up everything that we hold dear in this world. That is the prerequisite to becoming His heir. I had to sacrifice my son, as well as all my Christian doctrine and ways of serving God. As long as you think that you can provide for yourself, you will never receive the full blessing of Pentecost. You have to lay down your emotions, your thoughts, your heart and most of all you own will. Only then will God fill you with His Spirit, and can you live in the Spirit. It is a radical and life-changing choice, and although it is not easy, the reward for this sacrifice is eternal life.

After our accident, I have come to realize that nothing in my life is too precious to sacrifice to God. it has taught me that God sometimes uses the crises in our lives to get us to the point where we are willing to lay down our lives. Only when we are this 'sold out' to Him, can we be His hands and feet to the world. God trusts me with His work, because He doesn't rely on my strengths and abilities, but on the indestructible seed of faith that was implanted in me through the Holy Spirit when I was reborn in Christ.

God shows us every day how much He loves and accepts us.

We've started a new tradition in our house whereby we take turns at the dinner table to tell how each of us experienced God's love that day. Since we've started doing this, we look for evidence of His love everywhere. Nowadays our food is cold before we are through testifying about His goodness.

When you remain in the Spirit, you cannot focus on your own problems. Instead you're focused on His love and acceptance.