I'm gonna make it if you're not there right now, do you remember what middle school and high school were like? Probably for some of you that's not the most pleasant memory. Middle school was tough. I don't know a lot of people who think about middle school and just glow and gush about those being the glory years. That's when it was great. It's a fumbling time where you tend to feel pretty weird and you tend to feel like everybody else kind of has it together, but only I don't, which is a lie that's not true. Nobody has it together. Everybody's fumbling along trying to figure it out. Then high school's weird, the social pecking orders, a little bit more social sophistication develops. And all the things that hurt in middle school and high school, no, that's an overstatement. Not all the things that hurt, but a lot of the things that hurt in middle school and high school strike at your identity because it's sort of still formed from childhood, but you don't really have a sense of who you are next or what you bring to the table all the time. This is weird. I mean, I don't know, it's a time where the insecurities kind of run wild a little bit. Part of being a person. Also, part of being a dad means that I have an incredibly soft heart for my kids while they walk through that. I can picture what they're going through when they come home from social settings and whatnot, and they hurt, and I have ideas for how to try to help, but when I sense most of all that something is striking at their sense of who they are, or when the mistakes they're making are not in keeping with who they are, I will reassure them or sternly remind them that you are my daughter, you are my son, you are profoundly valuable and loved and vital to what this thing is. I always my kids are sad about stuff and they're like, oh, it just doesn't matter anyway because of their age. I start talking shop about the Renaissance masters and Alexander the Great and John the Young Disciple, and like all these people did world-changing stuff when they were so young. What you do matters now. It counts. You're not just in training for an identity and a meaning you will have later. All these conversations you're having, they count. What you're trying to do and invest in other people's lives, it counts. The art you make right now, that counts. Do stuff. Don't sit on your couch, don't be afraid, don't shrink. I know this time in your life is hard, but what you you matter. What you're doing counts. And you are my kid. And first and foremost, I remind them on this planet, you find meaning in your family and the people who truly deeply love you. And then obviously I point them to their identity as being kids who know God as well. So there are lots of little moments where I'm like, hey, don't do that. Hey, make sure you do that. Hey, make sure you're the home by this time. That don't involve any appeal to identity or whatever. But when we're really doing the eye contact thing and we are down into it, the real stuff, pretty much all the coaching I give comes back to identity. Here's who you are, here's who you're shaping up to be as you grow. Be very, very clear on that, kiddo, and you'll find clarity on these other things. Likewise, in one of the most tender moments in a not that tender book of the Bible, a letter from the Apostle Paul here in the book of Galatians, we get that kind of identity reminder here in Galatians chapter four, verses six and seven. I'm gonna read it to you and we'll break it down a little bit more. Paul says, Because you are sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out Abba, Father. So you're no longer a slave, but a son. And since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. It's been a pretty tough fatherly conversation up till this point in Galatians. There's been a little history lesson. Fathers can be that way. And I'll walk you through where all the things came from and how we got to where we are and how that informs what you're doing and how things ought to be now. Then we get into some pretty deep water theology. Basically, this page that I've been open to for two months of my life now, page 1804 and 1805 in my Bible, basically corresponding to Galatians 3 in the beginning of 4. Dang, it is heavyweight stuff. But in this fatherly talk, Paul is like, I'm not just gonna appeal to your emotions to try to get you to where you need to be. You're gonna have to do a little work, you're gonna have to think hard because your identity is an important one, and that identity was earned for you by an infinitely complex God through an elaborate redemptive plan over a very long period of time. And I'm sorry, this is gonna be difficult, kiddo, but we're just gonna have to work through this for a minute. But then the eyebrows go up in the middle as we get to this point, and you can almost picture that moment where the dad, where I, when I'm being dad, where my dad, when he was dadding me, gets down to eye level, puts both hands out on the shoulders, kind of calling nonverbally for eye contact. Kiddo, look me in the eye. Young lady, young man, right here, listen very closely to what I'm about to say. Because your sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, Abba, Father, keep looking at me. Hey. So you, young man, young lady, are no longer a slave, but a son, a daughter. And since you are a son, a daughter, God has made you also an heir. You understand? My conversations with my kids have these kinds of ebbs and flows when we get to the heart of the identity stuff. But the identity stuff, it can't be cheapened. You can't just barf it out with nothing to hold it up with no structure or foundation behind it. I mean, I don't know, it might work for a while, but that eventually rings hollow, doesn't it? That stupid sort of dopey corporate cheerleader stuff, like, hey gang, everybody's at work, and what are we? We're great. Say it with me. We're great. I can't hear you. It's my least favorite thing ever. Cheap corporate pump-up hype. Sometimes that slop happens at church, too. God, it's so patronizing. That's the worst. You're just saying crap. You don't know me. Why am I great? Walk me through it. Why is great my identity? Because it just feels like blather where you're just going through the motions and doing your job. But when my dad, when my mom, when my mentors have sat me down and taken the time to be like, hey, I can see what's going on in your life. I see the stuff you're hurting over. I see the mistakes you're making. Let me just walk through a few things. Let me just listen for a minute. Let me remind you of some stuff. You're from here. You learned this. This happened to you and your family. You believe this. I was there when you stood up in front of everybody and did this and said that. I saw you when nobody else saw it and you got no credit for it. And it was very expensive and costly for you. But you did this. I was there the day after you made that horrible mistake and you hurt everybody. I remember how you made the mistake. I remember how you pulled out of it. I remember your grandfather and your grandmother and who they were. And I remember what they taught you. That kind of talk, my friends, it's a complete other end of the spectrum from the we're great. Say it with me. What are you? Great. That's right, even louder. Total opposite end of the spectrum. One is cheap, one is earned. The one that Paul is doing here in Galatians 4 is that deep earned meaning and identity. And this really is where so much of Galatians goes from here on out. As we flip from the middle of the turd sandwich to the Texas toast on the bottom. This is where we get all the beautiful implications that make this all the more worth it. Who are you? Your sons, daughters, heirs, agents of the kingdom. What kind of implications does that have? Uh Massive. Your whole destiny is changed. You're under the protection of the great king who can't be harmed and can't be killed. He has eternal custody of your well being. That great king who is your father is endlessly forgiving and has given you the long leash of grace to go out and do things in his name and on his behalf, some of which you're going to screw up even with the best of intentions. That's all right, you know his character. So Kiddo, stop moping around here like you're some kind of slave. You're not. I get that it might have felt like that during the kid era when you had to go to school and you had to learn all the things. I get it. But this is the heir era H E I R. You're a daughter, a son of the king, clothed in his noble robes at his expense, no longer a slave, but a son, and since you are a son of God, he has made you also an heir. Now, if you're familiar with the rhythm of giving and receiving these kinds of deep water identity level, deep eye contact talks, then you can probably feel rhythmically that there's gonna be another so kiddo, if this is who you are, then why are you doing this sort of movements in this talk? You're right, that's coming. Paul's gonna take us there next, but for the moment, I think it's wonderful for you and I to simply linger in this hard earned identity payoff, my friend. I would echo what Paul says right here. Take it to heart, this is more than academic. If you are in Christ, your old identity as a slave, a slave to laws and rules and things that are bigger than you and that you could never get right or fully keep up anyway, you were a slave to that. You were a slave to the natural elemental forces of this world, the ones you see and understand, the ones you don't even know exist. So was I, but in the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Brother, sister, that's us. And there are a bajillion things about the internet and advertising and money and politics and social trends and everything else that is happening in the world that's trying to make your compass spin in terms of who you are. They want your money, they want your vote, they want your loyalty, they want you as a part of their ideological army, and they don't care about your soul. They'll twist it up into anything. But God actually loves you. You are his son, his daughter at great expense to him, and you can be confident in that title, not because you nailed all of the Old Testament rules, you can be confident of that title and position you hold because of the character of God and believing him. Cool. I'm Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.