Exhortation- True Sons

Jesus is the Son of God. The Father is pleased with Him. The Father is particularly pleased because Jesus laid down His life for those the Father loved and desired to draw to Himself. Thus, Jesus did exactly what the Father would have Him do, that is, deny Himself and reveal the Father’s will on the Earth among men.

         In that little paragraph is a lot of room for our own condemnation. We know that we have not always been faithful sons and daughters. We have sought to establish our own wills and ways, sometimes even in opposition to our own earthly fathers, or even in opposition to our Heavenly Father. We are not surprised that God is pleased with Jesus and the comparison of ourselves to Jesus only makes our guilt and shame increase. What are we to do?

         First, be honest. It is true that you are not the perfect son, like Jesus. But God has looked upon you in your condition, taken pity upon you and brought you to Himself through Jesus, adopted you and called you son. You were by nature the very object of wrath that causes you to shrink from His presence. But God, the Father, by grace, has picked you out, named you Christian, a friend and brother of Jesus, and written you into His own divine will.

         Second, forsake those things that make you an odious son. And Third, come up out of the slop and your squandered inheritance. Return home to your Father and be received back into the family as a full joint heir of all the promises of God. All such sons will put on the royal robe and feast on the fatted calf.