“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to
fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry
out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are
children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs
with Christ….” (Romans 8:15–17, NASB95)
Today I was working
on a memorial service for this coming weekend. The individual being remembered
is one who was adopted as a small child by parents of whom the mother herself
was adopted, yet did not find out about her own or her mother’s adoption until
she was an adult. This information had a significant impact on her life, and
she struggled under it for many years. It was not until she really came to
grasp the other side of adoption that she really began to come out of her dark
struggle and live with peace and hope.
While I will not
pretend to speak for her, there are so many children who have struggled with
being rejected in one way or another and along with that battled over their
real identity or at least what they thought about their identity. For some they
work though this with a great deal of support and do well. Others, however,
struggle with depression and more. They question what it was about them that
made them so unacceptable and they question why anyone else would accept them. For
some their adoption happened early and they don’t have any memory. But for
others, their path to adoption was a lot more traumatic, maybe even spending
time going from one family member or foster home to another, and they carry
with them vivid memories of what came before whether it was good or bad. For
them the process of merging into a new family becomes even more dramatic. Today
many children are told early about their adoption and there is a great deal of
help available for both adoptive children and adoptive parents. But it has not
always been that way. Regardless of the age or the steps leading to a new home,
it is quite natural to question what might have been and what it or why.
From the adoptive
parent side, knowing there are many exceptions some of which are not healthy,
bringing a new child into the home is a choice they make based upon need and love.
The love they have may not even be for a specific child, but a love placed in
their hearts to love a child and to nurture and raise that needy child. They
may be unable to have children by birth and they take this path as another
alternative. They may be burdened to help a needy child and to share the incredible
love and blessings they have with this child. They may even be relatives who
because of a great need in the family take on the raising of a grandchild or a niece
or nephew or who adopt the child of their new spouse. All of these point to
people who bring into their home and into their hearts a child who they love
and fully accept, raising as if born to them. They become their children by
choice.
It is this picture
of adoption that came to mean so much to this individual. She was raised by loving
parents and grandparents, but this did not prevent her from having a difficult
time when she found out they weren’t her birth family. But as she came to learn
more about her God and what He had done for her when she became saved a huge
light bulb went on in her mind and significant change in her heart began to
happen.
The Bible says that
we are born slaves to sin and that our sin keeps us separated from God. And there
was not a single thing we could do about it. We were helpless. But God, because
of His great love for us, sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins and to
bring us into a new and eternal relationship with Him. In this way we were not
just part of the crowd of those who God chose to worship Him forever, but we
were made children of God, adopted and given an inheritance with His Son. The
Bible assures us that we then become totally accepted and secure, and that
there is nothing that can separate us from His hands.
He has put us into
an eternal family, knit together by His Spirit. And the reason He did this for
us is because He loves us. He knows everything about our past. He knows our
greatest needs. He knows all of our hidden secrets. He knows the things we like
least about ourselves, and He knows the things that bring us our greatest joy. He
loves us. He chose us. He called us. And He adopts us as His own.
As I was thinking on
this my mind went to a Bill Gaither hymn, “The Family of God.”
I’m so glad I’m a
part of the Family of God,
I’ve been washed in
the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with
Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I’m part of the
family, the Family of God.
You will notice we
say “brother and sister” ’round here,
It’s because we’re a
family and these are so near;
When one has a
heartache, we all share the tears,
And rejoice in each
victory in this family so dear.
From the door of an
orphanage to the house of the King,
No longer an
outcast, a new song I sing;
From rags unto
riches, from the weak to the strong,
I’m not worthy to be
here, but praise God I belong!
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