My son, Luke, just had his first child. Her name is Harper and she truly has captured the heart of our entire family (to say the least). The other day, I sat in my office reviewing our most recent family photos—one of those being Luke holding Harper. Although a still image, this moment was anything but stoic; it was teeming with life (I know, I was there). As Luke held her in playful fashion, with the most sincere smile on his face, I witnessed a daughter beholding the gladness of her dad. His fatherly gaze produced in her the same joyful glee. As they shared this moment, I can only imagine Luke wishing he could‘ve sustained it longer than the photoshoot would allow. As a dad, I know the feeling.
Friends, our heavenly Father looks at us the same way. Just as my son held Harper in hopes to project the joy of his heart into hers, so does the Father long for us to know his gladness over us. He desires that we awaken to our adoption, knowing and experiencing the smile of his heart.
HE CHOSE AND ADOPTED US
One of my favorite passages in all of scripture is Ephesians 1, where Paul writes of our eternal adoption and identity. He says:
“And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.” (Ephesians 1:4 TPT)
First of all, it’s important to see that he chose us, we didn’t choose him. In other words, the Father, Son, and Spirit brought us forth before we could even cognitively understand or comprehend such undertaking. The Triune God joined us to Themselves when we didn’t have a vote in the matter. This is an eternal, unchanging truth. As he tells Timothy:
“[He] called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity…” (2 Timothy 1:9).
Secondly, it’s also important to understand God destined us to adoption and union simply because he loved us (NIV says “In love he predestined us for adoption…”). He wanted a family who mirrored forth the “the kind intention of His will…” (1:5 NASB)
Still yet, many are unaware of such a tremendous undertaking and spend their life striving to be chosen and affirmed. Although this sort of futile effort comes in many different forms, it always perpetuates into a shadow self that prides itself on accomplishments and accolades. In its effort to gain recognition, it builds on a foundation of our “own understanding” (see Proverbs 1:5-6). We see this pattern in children who, when not knowing they’re loved and that they belong, spend their years seeking out attention and affirmation.
But I have good news: the Father is committed to the emergence of our true self. He’s devoted to bringing us into the awareness of our adoption.
In divine love, he will leave the 99, search the house high and low, and run in reckless abandon to awaken us to who we truly are.
Jesus speaks of this relentless pursuit in many of his teachings; one of the most prominent is Matthew 25 where he says: “When the Son of Man appears…all the nations will be gathered together before him. And like a shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats, he will separate all the people. The ‘sheep’ he will put on his right side and the ‘goats’ on his left. Then the King will turn to those on his right and say, ‘You have a special place in my Father’s heart. Come and experience the full inheritance of the kingdom realm that has been destined for you from before the foundation of the world!” (Matthew 25:31-34 TPT)
Notice the language of “destined for you from before the foundation of the world (universe).” Sounds just like Ephesians 1:4, huh? This is a realm of time that precedes material objects and most certainly predates the law. In essence, he’s addressing the one whom, in the words of Paul, he chose and adopted “before he laid the foundation of the universe.” Not only does this bring to our attention the goodness and “kind intention” of the Father, it also speaks of the true you (his beloved child) that he adopted and brought into union prior to forming the universe.
This realm of time, my friends, is the purest state of your being—the one he knows and identifies with outside of your own accomplishments and accolades.
JESUS DIVIDING THE SHEEP AND GOATS
While many view this passage as a separation of two people (one person is a sheep while the other is a goat), I see this as Jesus judging one person, which in my opinion, is a judgment of our own souls. In other words, he’s doing an inward work to separate the sheep and goats that lie within our hearts. The sheep represent the truth of who we are (Psalm 23), while the goats represent the lie of who we’re not. The sheep he’s been united to and knows; the goats he has not been united to and says, “I never knew you.”
“On the day of judgment many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, don’t you remember us? Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons and do many miracles in your name?’ But I will have to say to them, ‘Go away from me, you lawless rebels! I’ve never been joined to you!’” (Matthew 7:22-23 TPT)
I suggest the “goat” that Jesus is referring to is what we bring to the table; the side of us that has never been united in and through Jesus Christ. It is the false self.
I understand this may be a foreign concept, but let me ask a few questions for you to consider:
How many of us are still growing in the revelation of who we are in Christ? How many of us still have days where we are led by our own prideful ego, falling prey to an un-renewed mind? To put in plainly, how many of us have days where we stubbornly refuse to trust and be led (like a goat) rather than willfully trusting and leaning on the Father (like sheep)?
Not sure about you, but I know I still experience that inward warring of flesh and spirit. In other words, I have parts inside of me that, for whatever reason, get led astray by the goat nature (goats are stubborn and often refuse to be led by their leader). To be honest, I have moments where I’d rather just do it my own way!
However, our good Shepherd is devoted to us; he is a faithful leader who, in the words of David, “makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:2-3).
HOW THE FATHER RELATES TO YOU AND ME
As I’ve stated, the Father relates to us in the light of adoption and union. This is who he made us to be “before the foundation of the world.” This is the you he knows and identifies with. For this, he does not speak or relate to us in the language of the false self, for it has no substance. It’s only built on deception and lies—what I call the illusory self. Hence, the term “false.” Besides, it’s utterly impossible for him to speak such lies and is why he says “I never knew you” to the voice of “did we not prophesy…cast out demons…perform many miracles?’ (see Matthew 7:22-23 NASB).
To say it another way: the Father does not know or identify with the side of us who links our union and inclusion through accomplishments and accolades (or the lack thereof). I assume this is why the Father did not acknowledge, much less respond, to the sons’ shortcomings (see Luke 15:21). Just as the poor beggar son was speaking the language of his own strength (in the form of shortcomings), the Father refused to travel down that road. I also imagine this is why the rhetoric of “did we not prophesy…cast out demons…perform many miracles?” has zero merit when it comes to “getting in.”
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB).
As Jesus so beautifully illustrates, he is out to detach the truth of who we are from the illusion of who we’re not. As our Wonderful Counselor, he is on a mission to separate the true and false self. And here’s the kicker: this separation is simply an extension of his love—an act not of retribution or punishment, but of his heart to restore you and me into the awareness of the one he knew before he formed us in our mothers womb (see Jeremiah 1:5).
The Father is committed to awakening us to adoption, even if it means removing anything that does not bear the image and likeness of who he made us to be. As the all-consuming fire, he will burn anything away that does not bear witness to who he knows from the beginning. It is the “kind intention of his will” to Father a family who walks in the light of who he knows. This is his promise to us!
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37 NKJV)
-RA
References: Ephesians 1:4-5; 2 Timothy 1:9; Matthew 25:31-34; Matthew 7:22-23; Matthew 22:37; Psalm 23:2-3; Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 2:8-9