There is an amazing truth set forth in the Word of God concerning the circle of goodness for the Christian believer. It begins before the ages in the heart of God with His glorious plan of love for you. It continues through the great realities of redemption and salvation for the believer and every good thing He has made you in Christ. His circle of goodness then continues in the everyday working of God’s mighty power in every detail of your life as Christ is formed in you and with His power and love you abound in every good work shining as a light in the darkness of the world. It continues to the good hope of Christ’s return, the extraordinary day when Christ comes back for you. You will be changed, meet the Lord in the air, and live forever with your Lord and Savior, enjoying His goodness throughout all eternity.
The Christian life is a celebration of God’s goodness. Only in the complete working of the love and grace of God through Christ rests the full manifestation of God’s goodness. Christianity needs to focus once again on the goodness of God. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted and hardened in our hearts to the goodness of God. We must not substitute the goodness of God for tradition and legalism that focuses on the works of man, or our own inadequacies and shortcomings, rather than on God Almighty. Everything that proceeds from the heart of God is good; He will surround and embrace us with His unmatchable goodness forever. Once you begin to understand this circle of goodness for the Christian believer, you will be humbled and inspired by the magnificent privilege of the call of God on your life. These wonderful sections of Scripture will expand your vision of the goodness of God and transform your thinking about the immense importance of your life to God.
Ephesians 1:5,6 (New Revised Standard Version):
He destined us for adoption as his children through
Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his
will.
To the praise of his glorious grace that he freely
bestowed upon us in the Beloved.
New Jerusalem Bible:
Marking us out for himself beforehand, to be adopted
sons, through Jesus Christ. Such was his purpose and
good pleasure.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, his free gift to
us in the Beloved.
Wuest Expanded Translation of the New Testament:
In love having previously marked us out to be placed
as adult sons through the intermediated agency of Jesus
Christ for himself according to that which seem good in
his heart’s desire,
Resulting in praise of the glory of His grace which he
freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved.
It was the good pleasure of God’s will to mark us out to be adopted children to Himself through Jesus Christ. Long before the first rays of sun broke upon the earth, God had destined you to be His child. This is the beginning of God’s good design and purpose for your life. The Greek word for “will” in verse five means: a strong desire that proceeds from one’s heart and emotions; it is an expression of pleasure towards that which is treasured and that which pleases and brings joy. The Greek word for “good pleasure” means: being well-pleased, including the idea of a free and willing purpose with a good design, emphasizing the resolve, willingness, and freedom in marking the design as something good. It means a good will, delight, and satisfaction; to take pleasure in; to think, determine, and choose what is good to one, with the included idea of kindness accompanying the decision. It is a feeling of strong emotion in favor of something and has the sense of delighting in something to the end that you long and intensely desire it.”
Out of the heart of God’s intense love for you came a strong desire and delight to bring you into the family of God by the new birth as a precious son or daughter. God took great pleasure and satisfaction in planning before the ages this good design and blueprint for your life so that He could make you His honored child. Nothing gave Him more joy than preparing to bring you into His heavenly household and to bestow on you all the glorious rights and privileges of sonship. God longed for ages to wrap his loving arms around you and say, “Welcome home my child; I have waited for this moment before all time.”
This is the most awesome plan of all the ages that originates out of the intense, everlasting longing of God to call you His very own beloved child. This is where the circle of goodness for your life begins. We can never earn this goodness or be worthy enough for it. This plan did not originate in our good works or accomplishments. It is what God wants, it is what God desires, and it is what God longs for. Above all else, He desires to have children and to have a family that He can adore, love, nurture, protect, cherish, and fellowship with as a loving Heavenly Father.
The Greek word “destined or predestined” in verse 5 means: to mark out the boundary or limits of a place or thing and when used of persons it means to bring them into a sphere of a certain destiny. All of us set boundaries for our lives at times as to what we do, or with whom we associate, or where we go. God has set a perfect boundary, a perfect sphere for your life that will accomplish His good purposes. This sphere or boundary is uniquely designed for you to bring you the best God has to offer. God does not force you into this sphere and erect the Berlin wall so you can’t get out. You have complete freedom of will to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and enter these perfect boundaries, where the glory of God’s goodness will overflow.
God’s invitation to you is to come and let Him be the designer of your life. God is the ultimate designer, and there is no more prestigious mark in the universe than to be marked out as God’s very own and allow Him to stamp your life with His design. People pay thousands of dollars to wear and display the mark of Gucci, Prada, Dolce Gabbana, or Versace. God is much more of an awesome designer than any earthly label, and how much more should we be proud to display His mark of sonship, declaring to the world that we are His son or daughter? You cannot get any cooler; you cannot get any better; you cannot get anymore distinguished then to be declared own God’s child with Him as the architect and designer of your good and abundant life.
In order for you to enter the circle of goodness that God has planned for your life, you must first become a son or daughter of God by way of the new birth. Many people say that simply being born of earthly parents means you are a child of God. Unfortunately this is not true, as every person born in this world inherits the nature of Adam and is dead spiritually and in bondage to their inherent sin nature.
People need a savior, a mediator, a redeemer who can pay the price for Adam’s fall and all its consequences. A man or woman needs a new nature-a spiritual birth, whereby God infuses spiritual life into the depths of a person, reconciles them to Himself, and gives them the full legal standing as a son or daughter. This is regeneration, a new birth, paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is an emancipation, a complete deliverance of every bondage known to man, and a complete union with everything that Christ accomplished in his death, burial, and resurrection.
This new birth is rooted in God’s marvelous grace and can never be earned or sprouted from our Adamic nature. It takes an act of our loving God to bring us into this wonderful circle of goodness. Jesus Christ alone paid the ultimate price for your redemption. He gave his life so you could be called his brethren, and you would have the honor of becoming a child of God and receiving the gift of eternal life.
The Greek word for “adoption of sons” in Ephesians 1:5 means: to place someone as an adult son with full legal rights and privileges in the family. It is a legal term for a father’s declaration that His natural born child was officially a son or daughter with all the rights and privileges that included. It is to receive someone as a son. “Adoption” is an unfortunate translation of the Greek word, as “sonship” would be a more accurate translation; it is not an adoption as we define the term today. Rather this is a new birth into God’s spiritual family through the finished work of Jesus Christ where you become a new creation with a new nature. God justifies you (frees you from the penalty of sin), sanctifies you (sets you apart from the world as His beloved child), makes you righteous (puts you in a right relationship with Him whereby you can stand in the presence of God as a son or daughter without condemnation), fills you with His gift of holy spirit, and gives you to full access to the throne of His grace, where you can boldly come as a child of God at anytime for help, comfort, fellowship, and guidance. This is sonship, and what a glorious privilege it is to be a son or daughter of God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! You have full legal standing as a son or daughter with absolute heavenly legal rights declared by the court of heaven, and no earthly or satanic power can diminish, take away, or extinguish. You cannot forfeit these legal rights; they are innate, given to you as a born again child of God. These rights are part of your inheritance as a child of God, which God has decreed with all the authority of His inalterable Word as they are firmly rooted in God’s love, pleasure, purpose, and declaration for you.
What are some of these legal rights and privileges of sonship? You have a legal right to eternal life and a home in heaven. You have a legal right to victory over the devil and his authority on the earth. You have a legal right to freedom from the bondage of sin and all its consequences. You have a legal right of deliverance from fear, worry, anxiety, and doubt. You have a legal right to the Father’s protection and care. You have a legal right to use the name of Jesus Christ in prayer, invoking its authority and power. You have a legal right to be more than a conqueror in any situation. You have a legal right to overflowing joy in all of life’s circumstances. You have a legal right to the peace of God ruling in your heart, no matter how intense the problem or trouble. You have a legal right to the wisdom of God. You have a legal right to confidence and boldness. You have the legal right to have all of your needs met according to God’s riches in glory by Christ Jesus. You have a legal right to do all things and be ready and equal to anything through Christ who strengthens you. You have a legal right to salvation and wholeness in every area of your life. You have a legal right to perfect health and deliverance from all forms of sickness and disease. You have a legal right to prosperity and overflowing abundance in your life. You have a legal right to be completely free from every form of depression, condemnation, guilt, misery, despair, and any other type of mental bondage. You have a legal right to live and walk in the revolutionary and life changing love of God that proceeds from the heart of God. You have a legal right to be changed at the return of Christ and receive a new body unlimited in scope and dimension. You have a legal right to all the blessings of your inheritance in the family of God. You have a legal right to the goodness of God abounding in every area of your life. You must know your legal rights in Christ and boldly and fearlessly walk in them all the days of your Christian life.
I have practiced law for over 35 years and have seen many legal documents and the respect and authority that they command. People honor these legal documents, and give them great respect, and attempt to follow all of their precepts. Courts at all levels uphold these legal documents with all the power of the state and enforce the rights and privileges contained in them. People cry out for their legal constitutional rights and boldly go to court to have their rights recognized and enforced.
If we place such honor and importance on our earthly legal rights, how much more should we value, honor, respect, and claim our heavenly legal rights in Christ contained in the greatest legal document of all times, the Bible? Why do we believe in our legal rights as citizens in our countries, yet we doubt and disbelieve our legal rights freely given to us by God as citizens of heaven and sealed forever by the sacrifice and blood of Christ? Our legal rights in Christ are part of the new covenant that God Almighty promises and guarantees for every Christian believer. The circle of God’s goodness for your life is not only becoming a son or daughter of God, but also includes all the legal rights, authority, and power that come with that calling.
Romans 8:15-17a (Amplified):
For [the Spirit which] you have now received is not
a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage
to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption
[the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which
we cry Abba (Father)! Father!
The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own
spirit that we are the children of God.
And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also:
heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His
inheritance with Him].
Galatians 4:4-7 (Amplified):
But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His
Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations
of] the Law.
To purchase the freedom of {to ransom, to redeem, to
atone for} those who were to subject to the Law, that
we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon
us {and be recognized as God’s sons}.
And because you really are His sons, God has sent the
Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba
(Father)! Father!
Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but
a son; and if a son, then (it follows that you are) an heir
by the aid of God through Christ.
The Aramaic word “abba” is an intimate family expression that denotes the tender address of a child to its father. It could be translated “dear father”, or “father, father” and in today’s modern vocabulary would mean “daddy” or “papa.” “Abba” signifies the deepest bond of love and affection and the intimate, close relationship of a father and child. The Greek word “cry” means: a loud cry expressing deep emotion and confidence. God sent His Son to purchase our freedom and bring us into a deep intimate relationship with the Father as His cherished son or daughter. Any moment you pray, converse, talk or fellowship with your Heavenly Father, you can express the deepest emotions of love and adoration and call Him abba, dearest father, daddy or papa. Only Jesus Christ makes this type of intimacy available with the Father, and God desires above all else that your relationship with Him is this close, this personal, this warm, and this intimate every second of the day.
Oh, how many Christians have missed this great truth, as we have often perceived God to be in some distant place, barely giving the slightest attention to us as He is just too busy with more important things. We think God says, “Just take a number and I will get to you when I can.” God wants intimacy with you! He wants your relationship with Him to be so deep, so loving and so close, that it far exceeds the most intimate human bond ever know in the history of mankind. Each day He wants your relationship with Him to grow in richness and deepen in the fathomless depths of His love.
As sons and daughters of God we no longer have to be in bondage to fear of anyone, anything, or any circumstance. The Greek word for “bondage” means: slavery, servitude, and a state where a person is prevented from freely possessing and enjoying his life. It is the exact opposite of liberty or freedom. It is to shrink in fear and be enslaved in body, mind, or soul. Christianity is a declaration of freedom. God never leads you into bondage or enslaves you in fear for, “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (II Corinthians 3:17).
We no longer have to be in bondage to sin, as God has shattered the power of our old sin nature, whereby it is no longer the motivating energy of our life, and brought us into a vital union with Christ. God has created in us a new divine nature by our identification with Christ, and we have been completely infused with the life and power of God. We are new men and women, sons and daughters of liberty, as the power and bondage of our old Adamic nature has been crushed and rendered powerless by the finished work of Jesus Christ. Satan has no authority or power over us, as Christ defeated and delivered us from his dominion. We now can walk, live, and breathe in newness of life that glorifies God as we enjoy all the sweet freedom of our new life in Christ. Absolutely nothing has the power to enslave you. Stand fast and firm in the liberty where Christ has made you free, and never allow yourself to become entangled or held down by any form of bondage or oppression (Galatians 5:1). This absolute complete freedom from bondage is a part of the goodness of God that comes with your new birth into God’s family.
Excerpt from: The Magnificent Goodness of God and How it Will Transform Your Life.
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