“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
Adoption. This past week, this concept has consistently been on my mind. What a beautiful thing adoption is. The complex act of taking someone who previously had been outside the family, outside the familiar, and conjoining that person with the family, granting to that person ownership in the family and bringing them into comforts of the familiar home. No longer is that individual a stranger but is a brother or sister, a son or a daughter. This wonderful truth is all the more marvelous when we remember that it is a gift. The one being adopted has no ability to make demands, insisting that a family bring him or her into its midst. It is the choice of that family, primarily the parents, to welcome the newcomer in. When they do so, they receive that new member with unspeakable joy. That is what our God does for us. We were orphaned from him, unable to make demands or even desire to be part of His family. In fact, of ourselves we do everything in our power not to be part of that family. Yet, God in His sweet, good pleasure chose us to be His and made us His sons and daughters. That is the “good pleasure of his will”. It is for the praise and glory of His grace whereby He has made us to be acceptable before His face. He has recast us and reframed us to be like-unto Jesus Christ spiritually, holy and without blame.
Yet, this isn’t the end of the wonder of it. God knew that He would adopt us from the “foundation of the world.” It is the experience of us, in our temporal states, to be brought and led to adopt and to experience these emotions and the conviction for such an endeavor. God, however, never didn’t want to adopt us. It has been in His plan from eternity. We were always His plan and will always be His chosen for Christ’s sake. That is why He has brought us into His family and given us an eternal place there, an inheritance. An inheritance is a “stake” in the familiar family relationship. God has given us a place in heaven with Him to enjoy “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”.
Contemplating the wonders of adoption inevitably leads us to the examination of our own hearts. Are we open to the “stranger” and welcome to that which is different, yet still so beautiful to God? Adoption embraces the differences and brings them near, not shying away from them. In this, there is a similarity to the study of languages. Our mother tongue is quite dear to us. We harbor a deep attachment to our own native language. It is part of our identity. If it were to be taken from us, there would be a level of sadness. It is comfortable; it connects us to our roots; it allows us to communicate with those that we care about. It has even been theorized that the language in which we think influences the way that we think and process the world. Studying another language is somewhat scary in that to do it well and successfully, we have to open ourselves up to something that is remote and different. We need to embrace and allow into our “comfort zone” something that is different and strange, something that, prior to our gaining it, was not a part of who or what we are. However, when we learn that language, our way of thinking and perceiving the world changes as we gain an understanding of the world and culture underpinning the language. It changes us but it also takes what was strange and makes it welcome. While there are changes, the fact of who and what we are has not existentially changed, it’s just been broadened, deepened, and enriched.
Adoption, too, will ultimately change us in ways. Our spiritual adoption certainly has. Earthly adoption, which is a picture of that spiritual reality, undoubtedly will as well. That is not bad though. Through taking and embracing one who was once outside the family and making that one part of the unique family of which we are a part, the familiar is reshaped and adjusted as a new dimension has been added. That ought not scare us though. Like when learning another language, it will be a struggle at times, but there is a reward as that which was different and “foreign” is made at home and becomes part of our identity. It isn’t without its struggles but it is also a beautiful and extremely-rich addition.
And so we thank God for adoption. We thank God for opening His covenant fellowship to draw us strangers in through the adoption of Christ. Like embracing a new language that is foreign and allowing it to frame part of who we are, may we rejoice in the Spirit that has entered our hearts and given us a new song on our lips, a song of praise to our heavenly Father. Let us, too, remember those who are different and “outside” and pray that the Lord opens the doors where He will and with whom He will. Even if adoption is not a calling that God lays upon our hearts, may He still lay upon us a loving and caring heart that is willing and desirous to cherish even the smallest and most different of His children, embracing them as brothers and sisters in the great, diverse, and wonderful family which, though Christ, has been given a new “forever home” in glory with Him to come. Praise be to the God of our adoption in Christ!
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