4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
My friend was a farmer’s son. His father’s operation was not a large farm, by most measure. Yet, it seemed large to me. The machines and the buildings, the seemingly endless rows of corn and beans were a mystery of sorts to me. I lived in a parsonage. We had a garden but nothing like this.
My friend worked hard on his father’s farm. He scrambled up those giant machines and spent long hours driving them back and forth across the fields planting, cultivating, and harvesting. He often was working late into the night when I was watching Star Trek on TV. But when he spoke of his work, it was not really work for him. Sometimes it was exhausting and difficult, but it was his father’s farm, his father’s work.
Today my childhood friend farms this acreage and I am sure is assisted by his own children. Farms often work this way. I was always a little envious of my friend and his life. I don’t want to be a farmer, that is a great deal of hard work, but his opportunity to work beside his father and now his children was a great blessing to him. By his incarnation, Christ Jesus has invited us into His relationship with the Father. We are not serfs or slaves within the kingdom of God, but we are His children. Ours is a life lived and served in our own house, in our Father’s field, in His kingdom and our kingdom as His heirs.