For those of you who do not know, my wife and I are in the final weeks of an international adoption. The Lord called us over a year and a half ago to adopt from Ethiopia. By this time next month we should have our 4 year old (give or take a 1/2 year because we dont really know her age) daughter home and in our arms. Her name is Emme, short for Emerson (I know, I dont understand that either - you will have to ask my wife), and she will be joining our family of four. God has used this process of adoption to accomplish many things. First and foremost he has redeemed the life of a little girl. Second he has stretched our faith and taught us more about himself and his UNBELIEVABLE love!
Adoption is a wonderful experience and is the very heart of God. I knew going into this that God had adopted me but I couldn't understand then everything that entailed. Adoption is more than a legal process and a new child living in your home. When adopting children you are faced with the daunting task of loving them as yours. Emme will be my daughter. She will be my daughter no different than Parker and Beckham are my sons. She will get an equal share of my time, love, affection, money, discipline etc... I will dedicate my life and all of my resources to her the same as my sons. This of course means less for my sons. She will become an equal heir with my boys receiving an equal share of any inheritance. We will never forsake her or view her as separate. We are grafting her in!! This little girl, although not of my flesh, is of my heart. This cannot be broken. She is my REAL daughter! Here is a video of our Court Trip where we met her:
And why? Why should a family in Midland, TX bother to travel to the other side of the world twice, endure Home Studies, relinquish privacy about their finances and personal experiences, pay out serious money, expose their family to difficult situations, divide up the love/time/inheritance of their biological children, and deal with a multitude of complications of adoption for the sake of a child whom they have never met and are not responsible for?
1 John 4 reminds us:
I found that through Christ's death we could not only be forgiven but JUSTIFIED!!! Not only does God wipe away our sins, Jesus having paid for them, he then imputes Christ's righteousness on us! We do not stand before God as sinners forgiven with a blank slate. When God reads the ledger of our hearts he does not see a blank slate but Christ's righteousness. He declares us righteous like Christ. He looks at us and see's us like he see Christ!
The best analogy I can think of is this:
Have you ever watched those televised trials of murderers? The most viewed and climactic part is the redering of a verdict and sentencing. I always wonder what is going through that persons head. They have committed an atrocious crime, they are an enemy of the public, their peers have heard the case and will now judge them, and a judge will decide their fate. I have to believe that the person awaiting judgement cannot stop thinking "why I am here", "how did this happen", "why can't I be someone else", "I wish I hadn't done this". I really can't imagine a worse situation than to be in their shoes.
Salvation through Christ is something like this (this is a loose analogy):
a. "We the jury find you guilty of a heinous crime, one fitting of death"
b. "There is however an exception, this young five year old child, the judge's only son, has decided to assume your punishment and will instead be executed in your place"
c. "You will be exonerated of your crime and will be free to go"
d. "In addition to your exoneration the judge would like to make you a member of his family, and love you as he loves his 5 year old son. You may go and live with the judge and become an heir to all that belongs to him.
e. "Lastly, you will be seen from this point forward and forever as a hero and righteous man.
Sounds crazy doesn't it? This is the love of our Father. Not only does he send his only Son to die and receive punishment for our sins, not only does he wipe away our debts, but he crowns us with righteousness and makes us his children!!!! This is the glory of God! This is true love!
I am in awe of God and understand why we will worship him for eternity. He saw it fit out of his love and mercy to reach down from heaven and pull me from death and sin. He taught me truth and told me who I really am. He has made me a son and given me an inheritance. I will praise and love him forever!!!
Thank you Lord for the opportunity to adopt! Thank you for allowing me to share in this redemption. Thank you for loving me more than I can comprehend!!
1 John 4 reminds us:
I find myself asking this question of God. Why would God bother to adopt me? Why would he bother to adopt us? God's adoption process was FAR MORE COSTLY and TIME INTENSIVE. To reconcile his children to himself and adopt them he would spend thousands of years planning and preparing a way. He would then instruct his only begotten Son to step out of Heaven and then assign him the task of taking on the sins of the world (God, in keeping with his just character, knew that sins could not go unpunished). So many times we think of Christ has having done something easy (he was God right?). How hard could it have been? We forget that he "put on flesh" and became Man. He was man like us (although still fully God - see systematic theology)! God then turned all of his righteous anger and judgement on a sinless Son!. All of the anger, all of the wrath, all of the judgement, and all of the isolation landed painfully on the head of Christ with God ultimately forsaking him. We deserved this, not Christ. When Christ was found praying in the Garden, blood dripping from his temples where his veins had burst from stress, he was not anguishing over the Roman flogging or the crucifixion awaiting him. He feared this physical pain very little. He instead knew what incredible and unfathomable pain awaited him in taking on the sins of the world. When Christ proclaimed "it is finished" and lowered his head we became free! We can now be reconciled to God. But thats not all!!! God didn't just save us to return us safely to the Garden. There's more!!!
I found that through Christ's death we could not only be forgiven but JUSTIFIED!!! Not only does God wipe away our sins, Jesus having paid for them, he then imputes Christ's righteousness on us! We do not stand before God as sinners forgiven with a blank slate. When God reads the ledger of our hearts he does not see a blank slate but Christ's righteousness. He declares us righteous like Christ. He looks at us and see's us like he see Christ!
The best analogy I can think of is this:
Have you ever watched those televised trials of murderers? The most viewed and climactic part is the redering of a verdict and sentencing. I always wonder what is going through that persons head. They have committed an atrocious crime, they are an enemy of the public, their peers have heard the case and will now judge them, and a judge will decide their fate. I have to believe that the person awaiting judgement cannot stop thinking "why I am here", "how did this happen", "why can't I be someone else", "I wish I hadn't done this". I really can't imagine a worse situation than to be in their shoes.
Salvation through Christ is something like this (this is a loose analogy):
a. "We the jury find you guilty of a heinous crime, one fitting of death"
b. "There is however an exception, this young five year old child, the judge's only son, has decided to assume your punishment and will instead be executed in your place"
c. "You will be exonerated of your crime and will be free to go"
d. "In addition to your exoneration the judge would like to make you a member of his family, and love you as he loves his 5 year old son. You may go and live with the judge and become an heir to all that belongs to him.
e. "Lastly, you will be seen from this point forward and forever as a hero and righteous man.
Sounds crazy doesn't it? This is the love of our Father. Not only does he send his only Son to die and receive punishment for our sins, not only does he wipe away our debts, but he crowns us with righteousness and makes us his children!!!! This is the glory of God! This is true love!
I am in awe of God and understand why we will worship him for eternity. He saw it fit out of his love and mercy to reach down from heaven and pull me from death and sin. He taught me truth and told me who I really am. He has made me a son and given me an inheritance. I will praise and love him forever!!!
Thank you Lord for the opportunity to adopt! Thank you for allowing me to share in this redemption. Thank you for loving me more than I can comprehend!!
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