Spirit of sonship

I've hit a slight case of, what doctors call, "writer's block." I'm just gonna push thru tho. Let's see how this goes.

As you may or may not know, LOST final season premier is this Tuesday. Am I stoked? Yes. In anticipation of Tuesday, I watched some of last season with some buddies of mine today, and one scene stood out to me. Backdrop - there's this dude named Sayid who used to be in the Iraqi army, and he's done some bad stuff (killed people, tortured people, ect ect).

Ben finds him as he's building escuelas in Santo Domingo, Habitat for Humanity style, and tells him that he is a killer. He defines Sayid, gives him his purpose. You can tell Sayid is super conflicted about it, because there he is building this escuela for kids, maybe trying to redeem his shameful past.

I think about Christians, and the name we can claim for ourselves. Those around us, even with great intentions, can attempt to define who we are, to name us. However, we can rightfully claim ourselves as God's children.

"because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "'Abba,' Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" - Romans 8:14-16.

And that's it. God calls us his children. It must have been life-changing for Abram when God changes his name to Abraham, meaning "father of many nations." In this one transaction, God confirms his covenant with Abraham and gives him his purpose. So cool.

The end.