You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “ Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15
As a child, Mercy knew that she was an inconvenience. She knew, in the way children know things without being told.
Mercy was raised by an aunt after losing both parents at a very young age. Her aunt wasn’t unkind, but Mercy worked hard to justify her place. Careful never to ask for too much, she learned early to make herself useful so she wouldn’t become a burden.
Decades later, sitting in a Bible study, Mercy heard a verse that stopped her completely. A follower of Jesus named Paul, writing about what salvation was, used the language, not of transaction, but of family. He wrote, “You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father’“ (Romans 8:15). Abba is an affectionate word, the kind a child uses with a father they feel completely safe with.
This is what salvation does in us—beyond canceling our debt. God welcomes you with open arms into the family, fully and permanently. Not as a servant earning their place, not as a guest, but as a member of the family. The inheritance is yours. The belonging is unconditional.
This matters because many of us carry the same anxious posture we learned elsewhere into our relationship with God—working hard, asking for little, careful not to become a burden. But that is not what you are to God.
Mercy said the verse slowly changed how she prayed: less like someone negotiating, and more like a daughter at home. That’s where you are with Jesus—you are home, not because of what you’ve done, but because of who you now belong to.
