ID, please!

Today Andy and I took a second trip to the DMV to try to get his state id updated...this time successfully. While we were waiting, the irony hit me: nowadays, to get an id that is good for official purposes and for flying, you have to show some id. Is this not a catch-22 or what? It's kind of Dickensian if you think about. In Little Dorrit, Dickens makes his disdain for bureaucracy pretty clear when he describes the circumlocution office. All that office does is explain to people why what they want to do is not possible, and shuffle them off to another office, who proceeds to tell them the same thing. What a day and age we live in! I do understand why it is necessary to verify id, though. I've read too many horror stories of people who have had their social security numbers stolen, often via the internet or some other surreptitious means, and then had the thief open up credit cards, etc and wreck the victims credit and ability to get a job. It's just sad that it has come to this!
However, one identity I have cannot be stolen: that of God's child. In Galatians 4:4-7 Paul writes:

But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children. And because you Gentiles have become His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you.

Think of it! Our identity before Christ saved us was that of a slave. After Christ saved us, we received a new identity: one as God's child. I love the parent/child metaphor used here, because I think it illustrates His all encompassing love for us. I mean, God proved He loved us when He gave up His Son for us, but on top of that, we are considered His children too! That could be considered the most expensive adoption in all of history. I'll gladly trade my identity as slave for one of God's child. The only completely identity theft proof id that we'll ever get in this life. Praise God for His kindness and for His adoption of us!