Orphans and Slaves or Adopted Sons and Daughters

"Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir" (Gal 4:7, NLT).

Galatians 4:7	Orphans and Slaves	Adopted Sons and Daughters
God	Impersonal, ruler, unfair, cruel.	Longs to know me and spend time with me.
God's Love	Conditional. I need to earn his favor.	Unconditional. God is committed to me.
God's Word	A performance manual.	Assurance of his unconditional love.
Discipline	What I receive for not being good enough.	God's love to help me grow and mature.
My holiness	Condition for acceptance.	Confident of his gracious dealings with me.
My identity	Defined by the things I do or done to me.	Reflection of his hope in me
Sanctification	Try harder to change.	My effort to live out who he says I am.
Relationships	Codependent.	Love from God drives my service to others.
Other Christians	Competitors to outperform.	My siblings whom I love and trust.
Authority	Source of power and fear.	Source of love and protection.
Goals	Spiritual achievement.	Living out my calling.
Obedience	To gain acceptance or avoid punishment.	Delighting in gratitude.
Suffering	Misery in proportion to my sins and transgressions.	A maturing process.
Freedom	Independence. Doing whatever I want.	Trust, love, sonship.
Repentance	Change to cover up my sinfulness.	Depend on God and his grace and mercy to deal with my sin.
Righteousness	Progress and failure based on my behavior and performance.	Declared innocent. Credited/imputed to us.
Effort	Trying to change myself to improve and get better.	My effort is on trusting who God says I am.