Then, too, how astonishing it is that, unlike people’s heirs who don’t share their estates with their friends, we as God’s adopted children share the same privileges that belong to God’s only-begotten Son! The Puritans reveled in what Christ prays in John 17:23: “[Thou] hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”5 This love is the essence of God’s fatherhood. It shows us how far God is willing to go to reconcile us to Himself. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called
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