“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Because you’re sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying “Abba,” Father, that you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son and an heir through God.”
– Galatians 4:4–7
Let the riches of those verses soak into your heart today, right now, to realize that not only are we redeemed from the curse of the law and sin and death, which that’s glorious enough in and of itself, but not only are we redeemed but we’re adopted. We have received adoption as sons before God. God, the sovereign king of all the universe, the creator of all the world, the ruler of the nations.
He is our Father. We are his sons and daughters. We’re not a slave before God. I think about so many religions in the world where we have the posture of slaves before a god or gods. We’ve got to do this or that in order to earn the favor of God.
Not only are we redeemed, but we are adopted by Godas His children.
Galatians 4:4–7 Calls Us to Trust in God
That is not what Galatians 4 is saying. The one true God has made a way for us to be saved from our sins not based on what we can do for him, but based solely on what he has done for us in his mercy, and when we trust in him, we don’t become his slaves in that sense. We become his sons and his daughters. We become his children. Our hearts cry out to go, “Abba, father.”
When we pray, we pray our father in heaven. Let it soak in today. You are a child of God. You’re not a slave to sin and you’re not a save to fear. You’re a son, a daughter of God. Rejoice in this. Live in this. Let this reality prompt your praying and your worshiping and your living and your proclaiming the good news of how other people can become sons and daughters of God, heirs through God of eternal life with God. Oh, God, we praise you for this reality. I praise you in my own life. I think of what I deserve in my sin, and then I realize that you have called me your son.
Galatians 4:4–7 Glorifies God the Father
Thank you, oh, God. I pray that that reality would soak in and everyone of our hearts. Through faith in Christ, we are your children, so help us. Help us to live as your children today, to live with love for you as our father, to live with worship of you as our father, enjoyment if you as our father, and God, we want to please you. We want to glorify you and want others to know you as father.
We want others to be adopted as your sons, so help us we pray to live today so that others might know this grace of what it means to be in your family, what it means to be adopted by you. God, we praise you for our adoption as your children, and we pray that you would use, bless our lives, that many more people would be adopted as your children because of our lives. Oh God, our father, we pray this in the name of Jesus, your son. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
