Rags to Riches

Recently a friend lent me Rags to Riches, which I had never seen. I really enjoyed the film because I'm a complete sucker for musicals (Newsies and Annie are definite favorites). The basic plot, in case you haven't seen it, revolves around six orphaned girls who are adopted by a millionaire businessman in an attempt to boost his image and seal the deal for a critical merger. What he didn't foresee was falling in love with the six daughters he never knew he needed so desperately!

I was struck by the plot of this movie. In some ways it reminds me of the Divine love story between the Creator God and His beloved children...those who have placed their faith in Jesus were adopted into His family and made co-heirs with Christ. This great rescue was accomplished only through the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood reconciled us to God and that very same blood has secured the Father's eternal acceptance of us. Our only option as humans is to choose: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, or don't believe and pay for your sin debt yourself.

The awesome part of all this is that unlike the 1986 film I just watched, our Heavenly Father doesn't have ulterior motives in saving us. He is not just the wealthiest stuff-shirt businessman of all time. Far from it! We cannot begin to comprehend all that God is, but His Word reveals His character so that we might know Him intimately. Scripture describes our Father's very essence in the word Love (1st John 4:8). His love is just. This is proven in that He know I'm incapable of paying my sin debt or living up to His holy standard. So, He provided a substitute: Jesus Christ. God's love is in no way determined by my behavior as His child. "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1st John. 4:10). It is because of Christ's sufficient sacrifice on the cross that we can now cry, "Abba! Father!" Or as one my teachers here at New Tribes would say, "He is our Daddy God." This is the kind of relationship made available to us through Christ!

In the film, the girls slowly warm the heart of their self-centered benefactor, and as he opens himself to them, he is changed. It struck me that in my relationship with my Daddy God, it is the exact opposite. He is the never-changing one in the relationship, while I am ever-changing. As I grow in my relationship with the Father, His love changes me!And so continues the mystery that is sanctification: God conforming me to the image of His son, Christ Jesus. Although I stand before the Father completely perfect because God is pleased with me through Christ, I am still daily experiencing the working out of that which is already true of me. The Holy Spirit's work in me is conforming my thinking to that of my Father, and so as I abide in Him, what is true
of me legally becomes what is true of me practically.

"For by a single offering He has perfected for all time
those who are being sanctified." (Heb. 10:14)

PRAISE THE LORD, I've gone from rags to riches! My Dad is the King of kings!