Question: What does it mean to be adopted sons and daughters of God and that all creation waits in eager expectation for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed? (Romans 8:12)
Answer: In Christ, we are reconciled to God and reborn. Our first birth was natural, of the world. Our second birth is a birth of choice...a choice to ask Christ to live in us and we in him by the power of his Holy Spirit. One with Christ's Spirit, we take on his attributes or the fruits of his Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galations 5, Romans 8) We are changed, transformed by Christ's presence in us. We become new creatures, a new creation in Christ.
In Christ, we become brothers and sisters to Christ and adopted sons and daughters of God. No longer is our selfish will our concern. Our concern, like Jesus, is to turn our selfish will, burdens, and circumstances over to God. This is an act of complete faith and trust in God, this giving up of our own lives. Once we give up our will for God's will, which is that we love God first and foremost with our whole being and then our neighbors as ourselves, we live the way Jesus Christ taught us.
Transformed by a new life in Christ, indwelt by his Holy Spirit, we become brothers and sisters to each other and kin to all his creation. Not only are we to love our human neighbors as Christ loves us, unconditionally; we are to extend that Love and Compassion to all that belongs to God, his creation entire - animals, plants, rocks, and minerals. Manifesting Christ's attributes in and through us, and living lifestyles in his image, we are to love and care for creation, the entire extended family of God's creation.
This love in action toward our neighbor, to include all of creation, is Eco-justice. What we do to the environment affects all life, human and non-human. That's why it is a Christian concern or a main concern for those living in Christ, indwelt by Christ. God loves creation entire. We humans are to care for all of it, as if we were Christ in us, relating all life we encounter with gentleness, kindness, meekness and humility. Life is sacred, a gift.
Christ in us, and by the power of his Holy Spirit working his will though us, will fill the Earth. The lion will lie down with the lamb. Is it any wonder that all creation waits in eager expectation for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed?