“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” Ephesians 1:5

Adoption is considered a legal term. One legally taking someone born of another and bringing them into their own family and giving that person the rights and privileges that come with being in that family. The child becomes an official part of the family, bearing the name of the parents. How beautiful this concept is! That a person typically in a bad situation can be taken in and loved by someone who is in a better circumstance. What an amazing display of unconditional love.

Adoption Implies Election:

Adoption is a biblical subject, indeed. In fact, God was the first adoptive parent. The Heavenly Father elected (1 Pet. 1:12) an innumerable host of people (Heb. 11:12), out of the family of Adam, to be His heirs and joint-heirs with His only begotten Son, Jesus (Rom. 8:17). As with any adoption, it was by the choosing of the adopting parent that the child was made an adoptee. The idea that a child chooses their parents is not a reality in any fashion. However, some teach that a sinner chooses God in order to be His child. In the post-modern, Western culture we live in today, many traditional social norms have been questioned. So it is not surprising that men try to disassemble the doctrines of the Bible and forge them into something that is convenient for them. Thanks be to God that His word endures forever. When folks study the Bible and rightly divide it they will find that adoption began with God CHOOSING his children.

Adoption Requires Payment:

I’ve never heard of a child paying to be adopted. Not to say that some probably wouldn’t give all they had to be in a loving family where they are cared for and nurtured. Even though that may be the mind of needy children, it is just not how it operates in our world. Neither is it the way in which we are purchased as children in adoption. The legal matter of adoption requires that a parent show an earnest desire for the one in which they are adopting. This may be through getting home affairs in order, showing that you are financially able to support a child, demonstrating that you are capable of providing for the needs of a child, etc. Jesus, in such devotion to the children He has chosen, has proven His love through payment on a cross. God the Father knew that the law of adoption must be honored and truly there was a cost the law demanded. Jesus endured the cross so that He would have brothers and sisters to enjoy the riches of glory with Him. Certainly this shows that we, the elect and adopted, are wanted and desired by the Father.

Adoption Results in Unity:

The best part of every adoption is when the child is finally picked up and embraced by the parent who has worked so hard throughout the legal process and endured with patience all the in between challenges and processes. So is the case for us when our Lord will return to pick us up, to join our soul and spirit with our newly glorified body, to unite us completely with Him in a glorious eternal day! We who are awaiting the return of Christ are earnestly anticipating the wonderful experience of embracing our Savior and Redeemer as children who have been out of place and away from home. We know that there is no greater experience to be had than to be with the One who truly loves us so much that He wouldn’t allow us to go anywhere else or be the children of a lesser being. He is never letting us go (Rom. 8:38-39). So don’t get distracted. We have a Father who is sending His faithful Son to bring us home. We have all hope and reason to stay focused on loving Him and building up our trust and faith in Him while we are awaiting the return of the Great Prince of Peace. Let us help one another and love our fellow brothers and sisters while we wait for our uniting with Christ.

Christian Call to Adoption:

Seeing how the process of eternal adoption would have never occurred unless God initiated it, executed it and followed through with it, we ought to then be able to see how important it is for us to consider the subject in a mature way while here on earth. The reality of the fatherless, in a temporal sense, is that Christians should be leading the way to help and care for them. James 1:27 says that “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” To visit means “to look after, or care for”. There are many children in the United States who have no parent to care for them, guide them and lead them in godliness. These children, unless someone intervenes, may grow to be no different than a product of a self-destructive society. Our religion is simple and so is our mission as Christians. We have a duty to step-up and care for these who have no one to care for them. I would encourage anybody who feels so burdened to consider adopting a child to prayerfully look into it. Regardless of a burden to adopt, our duty remains to help and support the fatherless in this world. If we will not, then who will? If God didn’t intervene on our behalf, no one would have.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1 John 3:1

Originally published November 2015