the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Discovering Christ Day by Day
Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 18-20
“Seemeth it to you a light thing?”
1 Samuel 18:23
“David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?” — David considered it his high honor to be allied to the family of King Saul, an earthly king. What then must be the dignity to which believers are called as the sons of God? Being the sons and daughters of God, we have been made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, by his almighty, free grace.
The apostle John was utterly lost in the contemplation of this unspeakable mercy. He cried out with holy rapture, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!” And am I begotten to this immense privilege? Amazing love! Amazing grace!
Sons we are through God’s election,
Who in Jesus Christ believe;
By eternal destination
Sovereign grace we have received!
Our Rich Inheritance
Ponder well the vast inheritance we have bestowed on us by divine predestination and God’s sovereign, distinguishing grace in Christ as “the sons of God.” This is not a barren title or an empty name. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God!” This relationship brings with it a rich revenue of all temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings. Believers are born to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away. We have the Spirit of adoption and of grace. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Though they may be poor in outward circumstances, bread shall be given and water shall be sure. And your defence shall be the munitions of rocks. God’s sons and daughters may be afflicted in body or in mind, their back shall be made as strong as the burden their heavenly Father lays upon it, and as their days demand so shall their strength be. Every child shall have his own portion, and the Father’s blessing sanctifying all. Even death itself is a part of the inheritance of God’s dear children, for by that means the Lord God brings his chosen home to himself.
Our Greatest Privilege
It is the greatest privilege of grace heaven can bestow upon sinners here below. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God!” “This is a privilege,” wrote John Gill, “that exceeds all others. It is better to be a son than to be a saint. Angels are saints, but not sons. They are servants. It is better to be a child of God than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified. It is great grace to redeem from slavery, to pardon criminals, and justify the ungodly; but it is another and a higher act of grace to make them sons; and which makes them infinitely more honorable, than to be the sons and daughters of the greatest potentate upon earth; yea, gives them an honor which Adam had not in innocence, nor the angels in heaven, who though sons by creation, yet not by adoption.”
To be called a son of God is the most noble title in heaven or earth. If we are sons, we should not live like slaves in bondage, under the terror of the law. Let every sinner who believes on the Son of God constantly enjoy all the privileges of full-grown sons in the family of God. Soon, we shall know fully and perfectly what Paul meant when he spoke of “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
What shall we say regarding these things? “I am,” as David, “a poor man and lightly esteemed...”
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown!
