Christian Living

Orphans in Creation

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
01/04/21
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“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

We either are or were orphans in God’s creation. If we are orphans in God’s creation, then we are out of harmony with His creation as a parentless child in human society. If we are children of God, then we are as once long ago in harmony with God’s creation through our relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. As we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Then God created life on earth. He created the vegetation, swarms of living creatures in the waters, birds of the air, then the living creatures that roamed the earth, and then when this work was finished, God created man. His creation lived in harmony, and there was peace and love on the earth because His love and justice formed God’s creation. (Genesis 1)

We do not know how long this harmony on the earth lasted, but the inevitable happened that man blessed with free will chose to disobey God’s Word and ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Sin, disobedience to God’s Word, entered into the creation, and all was fractured, and the harmony of creation was broken. Satan, the father of deception, was punished with the prophecy his days were numbered, and his head would be crushed. Humanity was punished that his life would face death, and he would labor in a world that also would produce thorns and weeds amongst his crops.

The worst is that man was no longer in harmony with creation and was now an orphan who had lost his relationship with the Heavenly Father and who had lost his connection with God’s creation. In His great love for His creation and that of man, God began to work His plan of redemption to lead man from the bondage of sin. God needed a perfect sacrifice to pay the debt of man’s sin, and there was none but Himself. So Gods worked His plan to bring a Savior, a perfect sacrifice to pay the sin debt, a man born of a virgin woman with the holy blood of Himself in his veins, the God-man Jesus the Christ as humanity were now orphans in the creation of God and Fatherless.

The orphan has no real identity with a heavenly parent, no meaningful direction of eternal value, and is disconnected from the creation of God the Creator. Humanity was created for a purpose to glorify his Creator, to serve his Creator in love, which was a purpose of his free will, and humanity was to have an intimate fellowship with God his Creator. Humanity now is an orphan out of touch with the creation of God.

The orphan will often operate in a sense of insecurity and finds themselves in fits of jealousy over others’ good fortunes. Often is jealous of their siblings, close friends, and associates. The orphan has knowledge of God or a weak hope to find God but only a service to please his conception of God and find a father’s love. Yet, the orphan had a deep sense of disconnect and feels alienated in the world he lives in. The orphan will, in desperation, try to medicate this hunger in his soul through physical stimulation and pleasures.

As an orphan, they are driven to be successful and use people or useful objects to fulfill their achievement goals. They are oversensitive to distractions of their desires and often neglect their children or the children of others. Under pressure, the orphan may fall into fits of rage because of a competitive conflict with others, which they see as obstacles in their path.

The orphan often has low self-esteem because of a lack of identity and will connect themselves to their material possessions. They become very self-centered over their physical appearance and strive to be the center of all activates. The cure for this lack of identity and connection is not far from any orphan in God’s creation. No matter how far one may feel they are from God, He is only one step away. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10)

The Apostle Paul tells us that we are not receiving a spirit of an orphan that lives in bondage to sinful living, which leads to a fear of the unknown judgment to come. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit, which is the mark of our adoption into the Children of God who have a Heavenly Father. This relationship with the Heavenly Father restores the harmony to us that was lost by our sin. No longer are they adrift in the world but have a home in the Kingdom of God and step with God’s purpose, plan, and creation. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1-7)

God’s provided a way for us to be free of bondage to our lust of the flesh to please our fleshly desires. It frees us from the evil thoughts that plague us to think impurely and relish in the garbage that the world constantly bombards us with. No wonder why society is constantly on edge, quick to anger, living in stress, and ready to pull the trigger over any offense. Our minds constantly contemplate that which is evil and are driven to unrighteous acts. We were prisoners of our own corruption by the thoughts we allow to consume us. But we should seek the freedom found in Paul’s advice. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

What goes into the mind goes to the heart of a man, so his life shall be. “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” (Proverbs 23:7) Therefore, find what is true, meditate on the Word of God, and your mind will become renewed. “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

As a child of God, your life will function in His love and acceptance. You will no longer live in envy but have a love for your neighbors. Your heart’s desire will want to serve the Lord not for the fleeting profits of this passing world but in the joy of acceptance and favor from your Heavenly Father. Walking in His presence will bring you comfort, knowing that all will work for the good. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

The Lord has honored you with His call and given you a mission that adds a true purpose to your life. It is a service to reach out to people who are still orphans and in need of finding God while He still can be found. We are the planters of His seeds of truth that can blossom into the good fruit for His Kingdom that all could become His children. The path has already been prepared for us to travel, and we are His instruments of His will. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

We have no fear because we know that our future holds for us the hope found in His Son and the riches of Our Father’s glory. We are no longer orphans in this world but children of the Most High God, our Heavenly Father. We are in His love that is greater than any we have known, we have His Spirit dwelling within our hearts that gives us perfect guidance, we are a part of the family of God watching and praying for us, and we are set on a course that has no end. “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, December 13, 2018