Adopted As Sons and Daughters

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”   
​~ Galatians 4:4-7

This is the message of the gospel in a nutshell, that God sent His Son to redeem us so that we might become sons and daughters of the Most High God.  Wow!  What love!  What care!  What compassion!  Our response to such amazing love should be like the Apostle John who wrote,

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

As we near the end of our Adoption/Orphan Care series this month, there is one final topic we’re going to touch on which I feel is the most important: ADOPTION.  Now this might be a scary thought for you, especially if you’re young, single, and/or not even thinking about kids yet. However, through this series we’ve discovered God’s heart towards the orphan, Christ’s view of the least of these, and our divine mandate and responsibility before God.  Orphans are not a problem and responsibility of the world, they are our concern, and we have a divine commission to care for them. And while there are many ways in which to get involved in orphan care, the only lasting and permanent difference one can made in the life of an orphan is to make them an orphan no longer. Orphan care programs cannot decrease the number of fatherless children, only adoption can lower that statistic.

I’m not saying you should stop contributing to orphan care ministries, no! But you must realize that while these programs do care for the immediate needs of fatherless children, they do not address the core issue:  that these children's greatest need is a family. God, as the Creator of everything, designed the family unit which included a mom and a dad to raise godly children.  This does not include a director, his staff, and over fifty kids! God intended that each child would have their own mommy and daddy, which is why each fatherless, motherless, or parentless child yearns for a whole and complete family of their own.  So will you provide that family for an orphaned child?

Did you know…​

• 81.5 million Americans have considered adoption. If just 1 in 500 of these adults adopted, every waiting child would have a permanent family.
• 38% of American Christians have seriously considered adoption.  Only 5% actually adopt.
• In the United States alone, 137 million people claim to be Christians of some denomination.  If only 1% of the Christians in this country adopted just ONE CHILD, 1.37 MILLION CHILDREN from abroad would have loving, Christian families to grow up in.
• If 1 family in every 3 churches in the US adopted a waiting child, every waiting child in the US would have a forever family.

Many adults, especially in America, have qualms concerning adoption and worry that they can’t love a child not biologically theirs or that the process is too difficult and costly.  While these are very real misgivings for many, they shouldn’t be.  What if God had the same thoughts about us? What if He was worried that the God-head would not be able to accurately love a child brought into the family through adoption? What if He decided that it would be too difficult and costly?  Then we would still be stuck in our sins without the hope of eternal life!  For we have been brought into the family of God through the ministry of adoption, and this was not an easy task!  It cost Christ everything.  He left His heavenly home, became a man, lived the perfect life we could not, was mocked and ridiculed by the very people He came to save, walked the journey to the cross, bore the sins of the world, faced the judgment of the holy God, and died a criminal’s cruel death.  And while Jesus has risen from the grave and returned to the Father, He will bear the marks laid on Him by His creation throughout all eternity.  This was the process that was required for our adoption, and this was the exorbitant price paid.  Therefore, how can we think it too much to invest several thousand dollars and possibly travel half-way around the world in order continue the ministry of adoption, when Christ paid with His blood and left eternity to come to earth and adopt us?

Adoption is not merely an act of compassion, but it’s a miracle wrought by the hand of God!  So the question is not are you willing to adopt, can you love a child born to another, or can you afford it, but are you willing to participate in a miracle?  The Bible tells us that

“God sets the lonely in families.”  
~Psalm 68:6

This is something He can do with or without our help, yet He invites us to join Him in His ministry to adoption.  All He asks is that we join Him with open hearts, and He promises that if we follow Him and His will that He will always provide for everything we need along the way.  So don’t let lack of money or a willing spouse keep you from participating in this miracle, because all you need is a heart full of Christ’s love and God, in His perfect timing, will provide the rest.  For God never asks how will we follow His will, but are we willing to faithfully follow.

So I ask you, are you willing to radically change the life of a child through the miracle of adoption? You will not be able to single-handedly rid the world of orphans, but you can remove the status of orphan from at least one child.  Or as Kristi Larson eloquently stated,

​“Adopting a child will not change the world, but for that child the world will change.”

So will you continue God’s ministry of adoption here on planet earth, and will you be a world changer for at least one child?

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Author's Note ~
If you have been moved to look into adoption, please visit Show Hope, a Christian organization that cares for orphans, actively advocates the cause of the fatherless, and also provides financial aid to families seeking to adopt.