Adopted For Life

It wasn't until several years ago that God blessed me with a true and biblical view of adoption.  I always admired people who had the courage to adopt and always thought it was a really honorable thing to do. Matt and I continue to pray about this calling for our own family and have been for several years. When we first began thinking about adoption in our own family we received a book by Russel Moore called "Adopted For Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches".  It was then that we began to truly understand the theology of Adoption and the call for every Christian to be a part of this ministry.  It was then that we realized that the way we had been viewing adoption was all wrong. I read this book thinking, "how was I never taught this before?"

As the article below describes so beautifully, "The gospel is not a picture of adoption. Adoption is a picture of the gospel," (John Piper). I love the perspective of this article. written by the one who was adopted.  This person who was adopted from Romania as an infant says, "God had sovereignly chosen adoption for me." It is a powerful and wonderful truth to see God's sovereign hand in all things.  Even before the world began, God had homes chosen for each child that would be placed with a family, both through natural birth and adoption. But, even better than that...that little girl didn't have to do anything to be chosen by the family that came across the world to love her and make her their daughter.  She was born into helplessness and what seemed like hopelessness and yet God had a magnificent plan for her life that involved loving parents, a loving home and His saving grace.  She did nothing to deserve this love.

This points directly to Christ and His unconditional love for His children. Over and over again I am reminded that I can do NOTHING to earn the love of my Savior.  His love for me was freely given and undeserved! Before God saved me from my hopelessness I was just as helpless as that little girl lying in Romania an orphan. So often we hear people speaking about their self-sufficiency, like an award that is pinned to the coat of their life...when in reality there is no such thing in this world!  Without the saving work of God in our lives each one of us is helpless and hopeless. 

Adoption is a beautiful picture of the gospel.  If you are a Christian I urge you to become truly informed of the powerful ministry that is in adoption.  I would love to see this ministry come to life in our churches, to see it taught well behind the pulpit to those of us who don't understand it fully. After all, God's children are all adopted.

"even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5)

Article:
Delighting in the Greater Adoption from the Gospel Coalition Blog 
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2014/03/12/delighting-in-the-greater-adoption/