Many years ago, a friend and his wife learned they would not be able to have their own natural born children. They decided to adopt. It took the patience of a judge for them to move through the process, but they finally succeeded.
They imagined an infant from the beginning. An infant, they thought, would be perfect and know them as parents from the outset. What they received were not one, but two, young boys. These boys were anything but infants and anything but perfect. They had been abused by their drug-addicted parents. The boys arrived with mental, psychological and emotional baggage.
But, my friend and his wife were steadfast in their parental duties, long-suffering in their love for these two boys through formative years of school expulsions, arrests, juvenile detention and one heart-wrenching problem after another.
My friend once told me, “As hard as it has been, our faith has grown alongside these boys. The experience may have given us insight as to how God feels watching us grow!”
Adoption meant these boys received far more than a new last name and safe place to stay. They were adopted into a family. They were forgiven even when they didn’t deserve it. They were loved. They survived.
Did you ever wonder what would have become of baby Moses had he not been adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter or what would have happened to Hadassah, the beautiful young woman who became Queen Esther, had she not been adopted by good ole Uncle Mordecai?
Moses likely would have been drowned with the other male babies. Hadassah probably would have been killed with the rest of her people. The course of human history and the development of Judeo Christian faith traditions would at the very least be different were it not for God’s plans for adoption.
What are God’s plans for adoption today?
There are thousands of children in South Florida in need of physical adoption. If you are able, then I encourage you to consider adoption, But, the truth is, we all have need of adoption, just an adoption of a different, more permanent, kind.
The Apostle Paul says it this way: “Even before God made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ….” [Ephesians 1:4- 5, NLT]
Our most important adoption is made possible by the cross, not by the courts. There is no lengthy legal process. We consent to our adoption when we accept Christ as Lord.
No perfection required. None of us remain innocent as a newborn child. We all have baggage. None of us are always loveable, and we may not deserve forgiveness, but we all can have it through Christ.
Pray God continues to be steadfast and longsuffering with the open loving arms of adoption, patiently watching us grow and accepting us into the family.
Ever think about adoption? I hope so because the most consequential adoption you will ever think about is your own …
Dennis Andrews is a minister at Community Presbyterian Church of Deerfield Beach (Steeple on the Beach) located five blocks south of Hillsboro on A1A. See more at www.comm unitych.org or on Facebook. Worship gatherings are: Saturdays @ Six, Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11 a.m.