I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on the face of the university president when I hit him square in the middle of his bald head with a rubber dart. And I don’t think I’ll ever forget what happened next …
It was just a day or two after Christmas (the dart gun was a gift) and I was one semester short of college graduation. I had also been engaged to the President’s daughter for all of three days …
I was lying on the floor of their living room while my future father-in-law (and present President) was working at the computer in the next room. Bored, and a little juvenile, I decided to drop a dart onto the middle of the writing desk next to his computer.
Just as I pulled the trigger, the President swiveled in his chair to sit at the oak writing desk I was aiming for. I only missed the desk by a foot or so. And hit him smack dab in the middle of his forehead.
The President looked at me over his glasses and I almost choked; then the man I would learn to call “Dad” smiled, laughed, and threw the dart at me.
I became part of the family that day; I didn’t have to get it right, or be on my best behavior, or make sure I didn’t mess up in front of the President. I got to just be myself with my dad. That’s what Galatians 4 means for you.
Galatians 4:4-7 (The Message)
But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law.
Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage.
You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!”
Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child?
And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.
Prayer
Thank you, Jesus, that you have set me free to experience true belonging.
Father, send your Spirit into my heart, that I may have the joy of intimate conversation with you.
Holy Spirit, take up residence in me, and teach me the complete access only a darling child can know.
O God—Father, Son, and Spirit—make me yours, now and forever. Give me an eternal family and an eternal place to belong. Amen.
Thank you, Justin.