God provided for my wife and me two wonderful daughters through the process of adoption. Throughout their childhood we did everything possible to communicate to them in every way and to assure them they were our daughters. We did share their own unique stories of their adoption with them at an early age so that they always knew the truth and would never have to be surprised by the truth. But, hopefully, they never needed to question our unconditional love for them. They never needed to wonder about our loyalty to them as our daughters. We could readily show them the legal paperwork regarding the permanence of their adoption into our family. We never threatened them with rejection or severance of our relationship as a way to motivate them to behave properly.
I can hardly imagine the devasting effect upon them if we, as parents, had threatened them and caused them to continually question their future relationship to us. They would be afraid something could happen to our relationship. They would always be hesitant to totally commit to the relationship with us as their parents because they could never be assured it would not end. They could never be totally relaxed and confident in our future together.
Romans 8:15 (ESV) For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
God is the best father ever. Without a doubt, He is a much better father than I am. Wouldn’t God want me, as His adopted child, to be secure in my relationship with Him? Wouldn’t He want me to know for certain the eternal life He promised would never go away?
1 John 5:11–13 (ESV) And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (bold emphasis added)
It is only when I am assured of my eternal life that I can be confident in my relationship with God. Only then can I relax and enjoy His unconditional love. Because of this confidence I can pray and ask Him anything. Only then can I really share what God has done for me with others.