Photo Source: www.christianphotos.net by Jouni Paavilainen
This will come as no surprise to those of you who are supporters of adoption, but God loves adoption! Somehow in all my years as a Christian I never really understood God’s heart for adoption until this last year.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. ” (Romans 8:14-15)
I don’t know how many times I have read this verse, or heard sermons about how we are God’s children, and how we can call him, “daddy,” but somehow it never sunk in that we were adopted by God into His family. I’m talking about how we all, man, woman, Jew, Gentile, young or old, ever since Adam and Eve sinned and broke that relationship with God, all who come to God and become part of his family do so through adoption.
As my wife and I considered an adoption last fall, this verse began to come alive to me. We were asked to become parents to newborn twins. They were helpless and totally dependent on someone to care for them, clothe them, shelter them, love and nurture them, and I saw myself in them through God’s eyes. He reached down to me. He adopted me into his family.
We did everything we could to bring these babies home. Given the circumstances, how could we do any less? But unfortunately due to choices that were not our own we weren’t able to complete the adoption.
We know that in God’s perfect plan there would be no need for adoptions. There would be no crisis pregnancies. There would not be unwed mothers or orphans or the fatherless. There would be no pain and suffering. There would be no sin. But we live in a fallen sinful world.
And if our goal as Christians is to become more like God, to take on His character and attributes, how can we deny that adoption is something that pleases God and is close to his heart?
Additional Reading:
Galatians 4:4-6 and Ephesians 1:3-6