Adopted And Freed

ADOPTED AND FREED

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord. Remind me who I am.

I am loved. I am known. I belong to you.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

In the Roman world in which Paul wrote this letter, unwanted babies were often left by their families to die or be enslaved. Some of these slaves would have been in and around Ephesus, hearing Paul’s words that through Christ they had been adopted and freed, lavished with grace, showered with kindness. We may not have been actually abandoned or physically enslaved, but we have been lost and enslaved by sin. Through Jesus and by God’s grace, we have been scooped up, brought into God’s family, and released from our captivity to sin. We are adopted and we are free. In Christ that is our identity.

• Consider the various words and phrases that describe God’s character and action toward you: great pleasure, glorious grace, poured out, rich in kindness and grace, purchased, forgave. What do these words mean about who you are in his eyes?
• Reflect on the words adopted and freed. If you really lived into the truth that you are God’s beloved daughter or son and that you are free, what would change in the way you talk to yourself; interact with people in your family, at work, and in your community; and share your faith with others?
• Take a moment to quiet yourself in God’s loving presence. Ask him to open your eyes and heart to the ways he wants you to live more fully into the truth that in Christ, you have been adopted into God’s family and freed from the captivity of sin. What did God bring to mind?

Father, thank you for your love that pours out of you, not reluctantly but freely, abundantly, unreservedly. And for your grace, Father, which you have lavished upon me, withholding not a single drop. Thank you that it is your pleasure and will to forgive—to redeem and to adopt me as your beloved child! How it is that you could love me this much I may never know, but I pray that today your grace and forgiveness would infuse my every thought, word, and act. Amen.