Show Notes
What does it mean to live securely as a child of God—especially as we enter a new year?
In this episode of Formed for Faithfulness, we reflect on God’s adoption of believers into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. Anchored in the truth of our identity as God’s sons and daughters, we explore how Christians can live boldly and faithfully in 2026—confident in salvation, guided by love, and free to serve in daily life.
From education and community service to workplaces, politics, and family life, this episode offers insight into walking in Christlike humility, speaking truth in love, and living out your faith with courage. Learn how embracing God’s adoption transforms your identity, your confidence, and your witness in a world often driven by fear, opinion, and comparison.
Nuance’s Formed for Faithfulness is a weekly liturgy to encourage all of us to be faithful to Christ in the public square. Join Case Thorp and other guests as they follow the Church calendar through the reading of Scripture, prayer, and short reflections on faith in all facets of public life.
For more on being faithful in the public square, make sure to subscribe for Nuance’s bi-weekly interviews with Christian leaders as they discuss everything from policy making to difficult conversations across worldviews at work to Christian art-creation.
Nuance’s podcasts are presented by The Collaborative, which provides diverse Christian media and collaboration services to equip industry/sector Christian leaders for effective contribution to the common good.
Learn more about The Collaborative:
Website 👉 https://wecolabor.com
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Episode Transcript
While for many people Christmas is over, the tree taken down and the decorations put away for another year, in some ways, for Christians it is just beginning. Welcome to Formed for Faithfulness as we celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, come to rescue us from sin and death.
A reading from the letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, verses 23-25 and chapter 4, verses 4-7:
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
A father wanting to help his two adopted children overcome any sense of abandonment they may have had, repeatedly told them how wanted they were. Unlike their friends who were simply born to their parents, this man told them, he and his wife had gone out and deliberately chosen their children. He may have done too good of a job of ensuring his kids’ self-esteem, because he learned they were going round teasing their friends, saying, “Ha! We’re special—we’re adopted and you’re not!” What an image for us to hold as we prepare for the coming year. What might 2026 look like for us as Christians if we went into it and through it anchored ever more deeply in the truth that we are loved by an eternal God who, through the sacrifice of His son, has adopted us into his truly forever family? No longer slaves to sin, we are instead sons and daughters of the living God. Deeply secure in that reality, we are freed to go into the world as God’s ambassadors in education, in commerce, in politics, and in our local communities—from the school board to the homeless shelter to the T-ball league practice. We don’t do or say things to seek personal gain, to curry favor, or to avoid difficult situations. We speak the truth in love, and we humbly act in others’ best interests. We strive to live at peace with others but not at the expense of denying the truth. We know that whatever others may think of or say about us, we are secure in our salvation. We walk in the light of our adoption.
A reading from Hebrews 2:10-18:
10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
13 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Would you join me in this prayer from Bob Roane?
Heavenly Father, help us never stop being amazed at your love for us! You have Jesus as your perfect Son, but you still adopted us! We needed you as our Father; you didn’t need us, but you saved and adopted us anyway. What a wonderful Father you are! You transferred us from the sinful family of humanity into God’s holy family. Help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love other people as you first loved us. Help us to turn our corner of the world right side up for you and with you. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
A reading from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 61 verses 10 to chapter 62 verse 3:
10
I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.
1
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
2
The nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
3
You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
