One thing I want to be sure we do through this whole process of adoption is to let people know why. We want to teach others about the beauty of the Gospel and adoption. Why are we on this journey? There are many reasons why, but I don't want us to ever neglect the most important reason why. This is something bigger than us. We are adopting because we have been adopted by the Father. I recently re-listened to a sermon on adoption from our church from last summer...WOW, powerful stuff. I encourage you to listen to the sermon here, just search for the sermon entitled "I am adopted."
James 1:27 states that "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."(ESV). I really like how this sermon fleshes this out. Our pastor asks the question, why does James make this statement in this way? It's a test of our faith, as in, if we aren't doing this we may not know Christ. Not in a legalistic way(like checking it off a list, because that's not the Gospel), but a way that means if you have experienced the transformation of the Gospel you are going to naturally lean towards helping those in need, whoever they are. We have heard many say "well this is just your calling"....and yes, we realize that not all are called to adopt as we are, but we ARE all called to care for the orphans and widows in some way. This is going to look different for every family, but for our family it means we are adopting a child into our family, just as we are adopted into God's family.
This sermon uses text from Ruth 2:1-23 and it is just beautiful...the point is that we ARE NOT BOAZ, we are Ruth. Just like Ruth, we are the despised, the outcast, and the children of disobedience. We have been left defiled, disgraced and starving. But Christ has redeemed us, Christ is Boaz in this story. We are not the savior of this child, we are this child's equal, we were the orphan, and just as Christ has redeemed us, he is going to redeem this child. THAT is why we are adopting, to give our child, and the world, a picture of the Gospel and our redemption. Because we have been redeemed we cannot help but to love others the way we have been loved and do for them what was done for us. How can we not? We have been given the ultimate rescue.
Yes, there are staggering statistics about the conditions in Ethiopia, about children dying everyday because they have no food to eat and no shelter, a child whose family has been ravaged by disease or poverty. These are what have drawn our hearts to Ethiopia, but this is NOT why we are adopting. We want to be clear that we are not the solution to this problem, the cross is. We have realized what it means to be adopted as sons and daughters of our great God and we want to live that out. This is how we are living out the Gospel in our life, and this journey is oh so beautiful. This journey has already showed our hearts just a taste of God's love for us and this child and we are eager to learn more.
I know this video floated around blogworld a couple months ago, but if you haven't seen it, take the time to watch it, it's along the same lines as what I've talked about it's definitely worth your time.
A good deal of this post came from the sermon linked above, but definitely listen to it, it goes into WAY more detail.If you want to know more about any of this, please email us, we would love to share more with you!
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