Adoption
“Just
as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love, having predestined us to
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will”
(Ephesians 1:4-5)
Life is just one shock after
another. Well, it often seems like that, anyway.
The other day, I was conversing with my 89-year old
mother in her room at the Southland Convalescent
facility. You have to understand that she says nice
things to everyone in sight – Those on the nursing
staff all love her. I often say: “Everybody loves
my Mom.” And they do. She smiles and says
sweet
things – they love her! (I do, too).
In the conversation, she said
these words to me, “We’ve
been family for a long time. And we’re friends, too.
I like it that we are friends.” I responded,
“Yes, I like it, too. –
We’ve been family and friends for 67-years.”
She looked at me oddly, turned away for a moment,
then looked again and said my words back to me as a
question: “We’ve been
friends for 67-years?” Then she asked another
question, “How old were you when we adopted you?”
My mother had previously told
me many times about my birth, stating that something
went wrong during it, which is why she was unable to
have any more children. And so on. I’ve been
convinced for 67-years that she is my natural mother
and I am her natural child. Not any more.
Suddenly, the whole world slipped a little as I
attempted to digest her words.
Have you ever had that happen?
You go along for several decades, surrounded by
information you believe, and suddenly you think that
none of it is true. Questions fill your mind – Who
am I? Who are my parents? Why did they get rid of
me? What is my real name? And so on. Things came
back to my memory, such as a conversation with my
father’s mother, when I was little. I asked “Nana”
(meaning absolutely no harm in the question): “If
we are English, why is our skin so dark? Why are
our eyes brown? Our hair black?” She stared
at me for a moment and responded, “I
won’t tell you!” And she walked away. Other
conversations started coming back to me, as I tried
to digest this new information from my mother, or at
least put it out of my mind. But it’s not that
easy.
Related questions came into my
thinking: Who are ANY of us? What is this
“identity” we think we have? Someone thinks: I am
an American, or a Canadian, or I am French, or
Korean or whatever, but what are we really? We
label ourselves with the confident assumption that
these designations are true and permanent, but they
really aren’t. We were created by God, for His
purposes, and we are His. I don’t know what
“nationality” you would call that, but the truth is,
we belong to God and our true distinctiveness is IN
Him. You will only find REST about who and what you
are when you discover that HE, your adopted Father
through Jesus Christ, IS your real identity.
A few days later, my wife,
Genevieve, and I were at Southland for the weekly
Bible study in Psalms, and afterward we were having
lunch with my mother. At Genevieve’s urging I asked
about the previous conversation, and my mother (who
does have a good sense of humor), responded, “Oh,
I was only kidding!” – so it looks like I
won’t be doing a search for my “birth parents” after
all. Well, PROBABLY not!
A lot of the irritations and
sadness we experience in life can be related to our
identity. We want our “name” to be well thought of,
to be “respected” by as many people as possible. It
would be nice if our family had a good reputation,
even if we have to conceal one or two of them to
make it happen. We have hopes that our work will be
respectable, changing jobs like “janitor” into
titles like “Sanitary Engineer” in the process. But
we don’t have to do that. No matter what our
station in life, we are sons and daughters of the
King, when we place our trust in the Lord. You
NEVER have to be ashamed – ever again.
Writer Christine Wyrtzen, in
seeking a child, made the interesting comment that,
“Nothing has challenged
our faith more than the grief of wanting children.
And nothing has brought us more joy than the process
of adoption.” God has “feelings” like that –
about you! His solution to children was the human
race, no matter what part of it you may think you
belong to. We didn’t want God as badly as he wanted
us, so we turned our backs on Him, each one going
our own way. Then He dramatically showed His love
by sending His Son, who became one of us, buying us
back from sin and death, using His own infinitely
precious blood as the payment for our adoption.
God “chose
us in Him” (in Christ) before this world ever
existed. His intention is that we will become like
His Son in character. Can you imagine that? –
reading a daily newspaper, it’s impossible to
imagine it, but we, His children, are intended to be
“holy and without blame
before Him in love.” He can make it happen,
and He has “predestined us
to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.”
He did this because He wanted to, and He is God who
can do whatever He wants! It pleased Him to create
you, to create me, and everyone else who has ever
lived. He fashioned you simply because He loves you
and He offers salvation to you in Christ Jesus for
the same reason.
We have been pleased to get to
know a lot of “senior citizens” during the last
decade. Many of them have outlived their spouses,
children, other relatives and friends. Often their
homes have been sold to provide for care in a
nursing home. They can’t drive cars anymore and
many have no visitors. They have no words to
describe how they feel, but I do – they feel
orphaned! Their whole lives were a reflection of
the people and situations around them and now all of
it is gone! Here’s some good news from David in
Psalms: “My father and my
mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me
up” (Psalms 27:10).
I’m not quite sure who I am
since my mother’s statement, but does it matter?
The reality is that NONE of us are quite who we
imagine we are. But the Father IS our Father, when
we trust in His Son, and He “chose
us in Him (in
Christ) before the
foundation of the world.” The adoption
papers are ready and He will make us into something,
someone wonderful. Do you ever feel unwanted? – God
WANTS you! He wants you to be His own, because He
loves you without limit, even to the point where He
sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in your place.
You are wanted. You are loved. Do you want HIM?
Let’s pray:
Father, I have felt isolated,
unwanted and alone. I see from the Bible, Your Holy
Word, that You love me and WANT me as Your own. I
want You, too. I want to be Yours in Christ. I
love You and place my trust in You now. In Jesus
Name. Amen.
