Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.
Galatians 4:28,29
When my parents got married right after the end of World War II, they chased after the American Dream. After living with my dad’s mother for a while, they moved into an apartment. Then, expecting their first child, they bought their first home.
But after the birth of my brother, things stopped for a while. And even though they wanted more children, something happened. My mom had a series of miscarriages. They became so discouraged that they almost gave up hope of having any more children.
You see, there are no guarantees in this world. We can want something very bad. We can do everything possible to make it happen. But are no assurances that it’s going to turn out the way you want.
Even though there was no promise that anything would be different, they made one last attempt. And I’m the product of that last-ditch effort. Since being told this story as a young child, I’ve always tried to live my life like a last-ditch effort.
Paul is assuring the Galatian believers, and all future believers in Jesus, that they are not children of slavery. But just the opposite. And what’s the opposite of slavery? There are two parts.
The opposite of slavery is both promise and freedom. We’ll talk about freedom in the next chapter. But let’s see how promise is the opposite of slavery.
You’re probably saying to yourself that freedom being the opposite of slavery makes sense. But you’re confused about promise being the opposite of slavery.
Think about slavery for a moment. What’s the future for a slave? Answer: nothing. There are no promises for a slave. The only guarantee for a slave is that the future will be the same. There are no brighter days to look forward to.
There’s no changes for a slave either. You do what you’re told. And if your’re lucky, you won’t be beaten too badly. The only change for a slave is to be sold. They’d have a new master, but they’re still a slave.
A slave has no choices There are no better days for them. It’s only one day after another of the same old grind where someone else has all the power and the slave has none.
To be a child of promise means that there’s better days ahead. There will be brighter days. There is a guarantee that things are going to change. And when they do change, it will be for the better. They will not stay like they are today.
As a child of God’s promise to us, we also have a relationship with God as his child. We’re his child not based on what we’ve done or might do. No, we’re his child based on who he is and his adopting us into his family.
Funny thing about a parent and child relationship. It doesn’t matter if the child is perfect (like I was) or was disobedient (like I am.) No matter what, the parent is still the parent and the child is still the child. Period.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38,39 NLT
There’s nothing that can break that relationship. It’s forever locked and there’s no way to unlock it. God has made it permanent, and no one can unlock what God has locked. Nothing can take us out of his hand[1]. It’s done and nothing can change it.
There’s very little in this world that doesn’t change. Most promises in this life have some escape clause that we’re all too eager to use. Make a promise and, if you get tired of it, change your mind. If you make a promise and then see someone or something better, you can always get out of it, no matter who it hurts.
But not with God. He promised to never leave us or abandon us[2]. We have the personal promise of Jesus that he is with us always[3].
Now those are some promises that are worth hanging onto.
[1] Isaiah 49:16
[2] Hebrews 13:5 NLT
[3] Matthew 28:20
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