Family Ties

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"  Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Galations 4: 4-7 NKJV

I've shared before of how, at a young age, my parents were divorced.  Of course, this left some pretty deep woulds.  How could  it not?  My father had basically shut himself off from his boys as if to say, "You're no son of mine!"  Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that I or my brother had anything to do with the  rift between my parents.  Sadly, those were choices that my father made in his life.  One thing that took me awhile to come to grips with was that I had been adopted by another loving father without knowing it.  For where my own father had abandoned his sons, my new father was more than happy to accept me as his own.  Had I realized this truth earlier in life, I may have just saved myself more than a few tears.  However, as Paul tells us in Galations 4:4, this all happened in "The fullness of time."   In other words, when God saw fit, he placed that call on my heart.  I believe this is the way it is for all of us.  Some of us may make that leap sooner than later,  but it is still in our Lords perfect timing.

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."
Luke 10: 21-22 NKJV

It is interesting that the word Abba is a Aramaic term for "Father" that suggests warmth, closeness, intimacy and mutual delight.  Therefore, our loving Father has sent his very Son into our hearts to cry out that which we desperately need, the warmth, closeness and intimacy of our heavenly Father!  I can think of no better way to describe our Lord.  His desire is for intimacy with his children, with us!  Where my birth father turned his back on his own son, my REAL Father has promised to never leave me.  As I mentioned, I wish I would have known this awesome truth earlier in life.  However, as we learn in Luke 10:22, The Son, who intimately knows the Father, wills to reveal the Father to Gods children.  The problem we run into, as I did, is that we often transfer the hurts our birth fathers have bestowed upon us to our view of God.  There could be nothing further from the truth!  For our heavenly Father is waiting for his fullness of time to show you his love and intimacy.  We now share an adoption into the family of our loving heavenly Father.

~Scott~