You’re accepted, loved, and secure

“He adopted you as his own.” Romans 8:15 NLT

If you’re adopted, that means your parents chose you. They could have picked a different gender, colour, or ancestry. But they selected you. You say, “But if they could have foreseen the rest of my life, they might have changed their minds.” That’s the point exactly! God saw our entire lives from beginning to end, and He was still convinced “to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5 NLT). We can now live “like God’s very own children, adopted into…his family, and calling to him, ‘Father, Father’…And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too” (Romans 8:15, 17 TLB). God doesn’t accept you because of your pedigree. And He doesn’t reject you because of your divorce, deficiencies, debt, or dumb choices. You’re His redeemed child. You can call him “Abba,” which means “daddy” or “papa.” You “may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12 NIV). And that’s so, on your bad days as well as your good ones. And it gets better. Your adoption is horizontal as well as vertical. You’re now a member of His redeemed family. Dividing walls of hostility are broken down, and community is created on the basis of a common father. Instant family worldwide! If God loves you, you must be worth loving. If He wants to have you in His kingdom, then you must be worth having. God’s grace invites you—no, requires you—to change your attitude about yourself and take sides with God against your feelings of rejection and unworthiness. You’re accepted, loved, and secure!

Bible in a year: Numbers 13-14 and Mark 6:1-29