but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – Romans 8

GOLF SCRAMBLE: I love the “scramble” format for golf tournaments. Yesterday, along with a good group of friends, I enjoyed WFPC’s “golfing for mission” event. The afternoon was sunny, 65-degrees, and just about perfect in every way.

Additionally, as the purpose was to raise money for missions, we all had the opportunity to purchase a “bag of tricks,” including a Mulligan, a “toss,” a “do-over,” and the very creative, “24-inch piece of string.”

I’ll spare you the details of all the shenanigans, but one moment caught my attention. I stood on the 12th tee with the wind in my face, 165-yards to the pin, and a six-iron in my hand. I gave the ball a hefty wallop, watched it sail a little left, catch the slope on the side of the green, and then roll closer and closer to the flag. My shot stopped less than a foot from the hole.

It was the closest I’ve come to a hole-in-one in 40 years. However, and here’s the important thing, I had just cashed in my “Mulligan” – my first ball was somewhere in the woods. If the ball had rolled into the cup our team may have scored a “hole-in-one,” but on my scorecard there would have been a huge asterisk.

NO ASTERISK: This morning, when I show up at WFPC for the 9:00 praise service, I’ll be in the presence of God but without any asterisk. When I breathe my final breath on Earth, and transfer into the next iteration of what eternity looks like, I will be able to “glorify God and enjoy him forever,” in complete confidence and without any kind of an asterisk.

There are no qualifiers, no disclaimers, no not-quite-good-enoughs, and no second-class statuses when it comes to our relationship to God. When Jesus restored us, we were given the honor of membership in the family of God.

“But you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” – Romans 8

And that, my friends, removes any possibility of a disclaimer, a caveat, or an asterisk. We are God’s children, no less, nothing held back.

If that’s not reason enough to show up to church today and sing your heart out, then I don’t know what is!