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SONSHIP
In
our men's group at church we have been studying a book about the work
of grace in our lives. When we began in the first or second meeting
one of the me in the
discussion group I was in had a prayer request 'that we would get
this', that is get what the author was trying to teach us of how
grace changes our lives. At the time I thought I had a pretty good
hold on it but that is no longer my belief. As we began to study
the book I found out there was more to grace than I had believed. I
had been struggling with something amiss in my relationship with God
for a few years and I didn't know what it was, maybe grace was it.
Chapter
4 had spoken a lot about Abraham. One morning later in the week
after our study of chapter 4 as I left on my commute to work (of more
than an hour) I began asking the Lord what it was that Abraham had
that gave him that special connection or fellowship with God. I was
not thinking of anything we had studied in chapter 4, it was just
that Abraham had been on my mind and I wanted to get closer to God.
I continued to ask as a prayer and also as a pondering on my part.
I asked what it was that gave that special relationship to Abraham or
Elijah or David. I continued on down the road thinking and praying
about many other things. My mind circled around to this thought
again and as I pondered it, most likely being lead by the Holy
Spirit, I began to think of my relationship with God. I thought of
the relationship of a son and his father but this didn't work for me
because the relationship between my father and myself was not a good
one. Our relationship was not a bad one but it was not a good one
ether. Therefore not having that relationship growing up I couldn't
use it to consider my relationship with God. But I concluded that I
did know about being a father having sons so I thought that looking
at it from this angle might show me what I was trying to see and
understand.
My
search of this understanding was because of the author's statement he
is trying to get across in his book that God's blessings come to us
by way of His grace and nothing else. So in trying to understand
this I was thinking of the relationship between a son and a father
and what the bible teaches us about it. In looking at my
relationship between my sons and myself, I thought, "I love
them, I chasten them, I teach them, I correct them. When it comes
Christmas or their birthday why do I want to give them gifts. Their
behavior or misbehavior has nothing to do with my giving, their
learning or not learning has nothing to do with my giving, whether I
have to correct them or not has nothing to do with my giving. So
what is it that causes me to want to give to them? It is my love
for them but why do I love them? It is because they are my sons and
nothing else." As this came to mind it also got into my heart
and I began to weep as I was driving down the road on my way to work.
I
believe this is the answer to my question about Abraham, Elijah, and
David. The answer is 'sonship'. The only thing that qualifies us
to receive the blessing of God is 'sonship', nothing more, nothing
less. We are received by the Father through Jesus Christ and by
that become sons (and daughters). We can claim 'sonship' because
this right has been giving to us by our Heavenly Father. I remember
a teaching one time given about the story of the prodigal son. But
the teaching was not about the son that went away and then came back,
it was about the son that staid at home and helped his father. He
believed he was in right standing with his father because he worked
at home for his father and did what his father wanted. He believed
he had earned his father's favor, his love, and his blessing. He
was shattered when his wayward brother came home and his father
showered his favor, his love, and his blessing on him. The son that
had staid home mistakenly thought he had to earn what he received
from his father and could not believe his father would give these
things to his brother. When he ask his father why any of those
things were not given to him he was told, "everything I have is
yours." Everything our Heavenly Father has is ours, not
because we work for it, not because we behave and never sin, not
because we bring many people into the kingdom. It is only because
we have the rights of 'sonship'. There is a song, 'Behold what
manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called
the sons of God', 1 Jn.3:1. What manner of love is it, what kind of
love could do this for us, what love that is beyond our understand
that would receive us and give us 'sonship' with all the rights that
go with it even though there was no way we could ever have earned it.
Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us!
Robert
L. Doudna1997
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