TRANSFORM: DAY 30

GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE ALL GRACE ABOUND TO YOU, SO THAT IN ALL THINGS AT ALL TIMES HAVING ALL THAT YOU NEED, YOU WILL ABOUND IN EVERY GOOD WORK.

SCRIPTURE READING - DAY 30


Galatians 4:6-7

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who
calls out, “Abba, Father.”

So you are no longer a slave, but a son;
and since you are a son, God has made
you also an heir. (NIV)

MEDITATION BY Bryan Ward


In recent years, God has helped me to accept my true identity—that I am his beloved child. I have learned more about being a beloved child of God from my experience as a father than I ever did from my experience of being a son. There is something about seeing the parent-child relationship from a father’s perspective that gives new meaning to what it means for me to be a son.

When children are young, they soak up the attention and love that surround them. They are carefree in the care of their parents. Then, somewhere in life, they seem to take upon themselves the expectations of their parents—
spoken or unspoken, real or imagined. I have seen this in my own life and now I see it in the lives of my children. Just the other day my son said to me, “You want me to be perfect!” Although I have never said that, he has gotten that expectation from somewhere. Again, real or imagined, it doesn't matter. If I don't speak truth into his heart, then the lie of “perfection” will not only affect the way my son relates to me, but also the way he processes life.

I have seen a similar pattern in my journey as a Christ-follower. Daily, I find myself fighting the idea that there is something I must do to please God, that there is some expectation that I must live up to—some level of maturity I must attain and some degree of success that I must achieve. Most of the time, I feel more responsible than responsive to God.

If these thoughts and expectations go unchecked, I find myself chasing illusions that only lead me farther from my heart. I find myself hiding from God out of guilt and shame. Rather than hiding, I am learning to invite God into those places where I go astray, struggle, or fall short of fulfilling his design for me.

Our heavenly Father desires to be invited into our lives so that we might walk through it with him, not alone without him. He has even put the Spirit in our hearts in order to assist us, to help us call upon his name—“Abba, Father.” It is a passionate cry for intimacy, belonging, and closeness. And the Father's answer to such a cry is always, “Come be with me.”

We will continue to look for transformation in all the wrong places until we transform the way we see the Father, his love, and his desires for us, until we transform the way we see ourselves—as true sons and daughters and the “apple of his eye.” This requires us to trust that he is who he says he is, that he always has our best interest in mind, and that he is ever-present and eager to be with us. Within such a relationship of trust, we can be carefree in the care of our Father. This is where genuine transformation begins.




REFLECTION


Imagine God thinking about you. What do you assume God feels when you come to mind? The author David G. Benner suggests “that when God thinks of you, love swells in his heart and a smile comes to his face” (Surrender To Love, p.16).


Take a few minutes to reflect on how you relate to God. In what areas of your life do you still relate to God more as a slave rather than a son or daughter?


How might your daily life look different if you lived in the freedom of a child who fully trusts and believes in their father? Take some time to consider this with your heavenly Father.