The Spirit of Adoption

One of my favorites from the "Who I Am in Christ" list (see my previous post) is Ephesians 1:3-8, in which we are described as adopted by God.

I wasn't adopted, and I don't pretend to know what it feels like to have been adopted. Apparently the desire to reconnect with one's birth parents is very strong, to understand why they were given up for adoption or what happened in their biological family. But the fact that their adoptive parents chose them must convey something very powerful. This was even more so in the New Testament era, prior to government social services or orphanages. Family was the first and last line of defense in a crisis. For a kid left without one, adoption would have literally saved his or her life. We have good friends who have adopted children from places like Russia and Guatemala. Having visited orphanages in third world countries, I can only imagine what the lives of these happy kids I know would have been like if they had not been adopted.

Brad Paisley, my favorite country artist, wrote a song called "He Didn't Have to Be." In it he tells the story of a young boy growing up without a dad. Then his mom met a man who didn't just love her, but loved her son as well and became a dad to him. Paisley praises him for being a dad when "he didn't have to be." Praise God today that He is your Father when he didn't have to be. He chose to be your Father, and it was His joy to do so, to "lavish " his love and grace on you, as the text says. I shudder to think what my life would have been if I had not been adopted by God!

This week, Rebecca Mourot and the rest of the Starfish Kenya team are loving 84 kids in Kenya who were orphaned and abandoned by the AIDS epidemic, but who have been adopted into a loving family at House of Hope. Not only can we celebrate our adoption, but that spirit lives on in our service to others. As these kids grow up, how do you think they will read Ephesians 1:3-8? Probably not without tears. And it should be the same for us.

What is your favorite from the "Who I Am in Christ" list? Leave a comment and tell us what it means to you.