DAILY DEVOTIONAL – January 30, 2020
“Sons and Daughters”
Prayer: Almighty God, Your love for us knows no bounds. We see that as our Lord Jesus hung on a cross. Your only Son given so that we might be the sons and daughters of God. By Your power and grace, guard our hearts and minds against the lies of the devil and establish us in the certainty of Your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scripture: Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Devotional – “Sons and Daughters”
Pastor Marvin Winans tells of a time when he was a little boy and he and his brother went to pick on their youngest brother named Bebe. The two older brothers said to their younger brother, “Bebe, you’re not one of us. Mommy and Daddy found you under a bush.”
Bebe went running to his father and reported what his brothers had told him. His father said, “Bebe, you are my beloved son, and I am your father. I have loved you from the day you were born.” The father then gave the two older brothers a whoopin’, but they didn’t mind because to them it was worth it to see Bebe cry.
A few months roll past, and again Bebe’s older brothers cornered him and said, “Bebe, you’re not one of us. Someone left you on the porch and Mommy and Daddy just brought you in because you were making so much noise.” Again, Bebe ran to his father, and again his father assured him, “Bebe, I am your father. I have always loved you, and I will always love you.” Again, the two older brothers got a whoopin’, and again they found the reward of Bebe’s tears worth the pain of punishment.
More time rolled past, and again the brothers cornered their younger brother Bebe. They told him, “Bebe, you’re not here to stay. You’re just here for a little while, and then Mommy and Daddy are kickin’ you to the curb again.” Bebe ran to his father, however this time his father scolded Bebe and said, “Bebe, I am your father, and you are my son, but if you come to me with this again, I’m not going to whoop them, I’m going to whoop you because you never believe me when I tell you that I am your father!”
Since his very first lie and temptation in the Garden of Eden, the devil has tried to convince us that God doesn’t really love us. He wants us to believe that we are just pawns of God here to serve His pleasure, and when and if we ever stopped being useful to Him God would just throw us away. When Satan tempted Eve, he asked her in Genesis 3, “Did God really say that you should not eat of the tree?” Eve responded by confirming that God did in fact say that and that if they did eat of it they would die. Do you remember what the devil said next? He said, “You shall not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” In other words, the devil said, “You’re not gonna die…God is just trying to scare you. Why would He threaten you if He loves you? God just doesn’t want you to be like him. You’re just a tool to God. Go ahead, eat the fruit and see…God will abandon you like an orphan.”
The devil couldn’t have been more wrong! After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned against Him, eating of the tree, they realized they had been deceived and that they only came to know of the difference between good and evil because they themselves committed evil against the Lord. Now, they were ashamed, and they covered themselves in an attempt to cover their sin. Did God smite them down? Did God just let them run off and abandon them in their despair? No. It says that as Adam and Eve were trying to hide their sin, “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden.” God in His omniscience knew full well what had happened, but yet in His Fatherly love and mercy God came to them. Now even more afraid, Adam and Eve hid amongst the trees thinking they could escape the all-seeing righteous eye of God – but God knew right where they were. Did God then pull back the tree branches and say, “Aha! I caught you! Now you’re in for it.” No. He gently called out to Adam. Though still afraid, Adam heard the love in the voice of His Creator and Adam came out from hiding.
Yes, God disciplined Adam and Eve like any loving father would, but God did not abandon them in the least. Instead, God promised that He would make right our wrongs by sending His Son (the seed of the woman v. 15) who would defeat the devil and atone for the sins of men so that God could restore the relationship with Him that we abandoned.
Friends the moment we think that God’s love is somehow conditional or dependent on our trying to make up for sins against Him with good works, we give the devil a foothold. Kind of like Bebe’s older brothers, the devil and his angels love to harass us and capitalize on the suffering our sin has brought on this broken world, saying to us, “See?! Look what you did with all your sin…how could God love you?” As the saying goes…misery loves company…and that’s what the devil is, a miserable liar who only desires to destroy.
The Good News of the Gospel my friends is that we don’t have company with the devil. We have company with the Risen King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, who has brought us into the family of God once again, adopting us sons and daughters of the Most High God through His blood and by our faith in His death and resurrection. As Jesus says in John 10, “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Because God sent His Son to die in our place, by God’s grace through faith in Christ we are in fact the children of God. We have been washed clean and marked as His beloved children through the waters of baptism, and the devil is powerless against it.
As Paul says in our text for today in Romans 8, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God bless you my friends, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
