The Christian life is…
June 8, 2010
This past Sunday we concluded our study in Galatians 3 by reflecting on the generosity of God in making us sons of God by faith. Paul is going to continue his reflection on what it means to be a son of God throughout much of the rest of the letter, and I’d encourage you to remind yourself daily about your adoption into God’s family. Thinking about yourself as a son or daughter of God will shape the way you live as a son or daughter of God. Here are a few thoughts from John Stott on what it means to be a son or daughter of God:
“The Christian life is the life of sons and daughters; it is not the life of slaves. It is freedom, not bondage. Of course, we are slaves of God, of Christ, and of one another. We belong to God, to Christ, to one another, and we love to serve those to whom we belong. But this kind of service is freedom. What the Christian life is not, is a bondage to the law, as if our salvation hung in the balance and depended on our meticulous and slavish obedience to the letter of the law. As it is, our salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ, on His sin-bearing, curse-bearing death, embraced by faith.” (John Stott, The Message of Galatians (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1968), 108-109.)
When Stott says that “this kind of service is freedom,” he is exactly right. Sons have been released out from under the guardian’s care, and they have been released to live as sons, just as God’s Son, Jesus, lived. Today I pray that you would not only rejoice in being made a child of God, but live as a child of God.
Share 
Under Blog, Reflections, Theology