I returned to my home church this 4th of July weekend and preached the Annual Homecoming message. While there, so many memories flooded my mind. As the reunion choir performed some of the old songs we used to sing, I was held in awe! As I viewed the people of years past, I remembered one particular family in the congregation. This family went through the process of adopting a son. He’s all grown now, has a family of his own, and is now living in Tupelo, Mississippi. I remember the tenacious tasks Harvey and Myrtle went through to get Tracy. I remember their asking for prayer in hopes of finally getting a son and their joy when bringing him into the Harrisonville church family for the first time.
In reading the words from Ephesians, I discovered we all go through a dramatic series of events. We go from being condemned orphans with no hope to being adopted children with no fear. How does it happen? Well, first we come before the judgment seat of God full of rebellion and mistakes. Because of His justice He cannot dismiss our sin, but because of His love, He cannot dismiss us. So, in an action -- which I think stunned even the heavens -- He punished Himself on a cross for our sins. Think about it, God’s justice and love are equally honored. And we, God’s creation, are forgiven. But the story doesn’t end with God’s forgiveness.
It would be enough if God just cleansed our name, but He does more. He gives us His name. It would be enough if God just set us free, but He does more. He takes us home. And adoptive parents understand this concept more than anyone. They know what it means to fill and empty space inside. They know what it means to set out on a mission, and take responsibility for a child with a spotted past and uncertain future. Yet God has adopted us. God sought us, found us, signed papers, and took us home.
And you really thought God adopted you because you were good looking. You thought He needed your money or your wisdom. I’m sorry to burst your bubble. God adopted you simply because He wanted to. You were in His good will and pleasure, knowing fully well the trouble you would be and the price He would pay; yet He signed His name next to yours and changed your name to His and took you home.
I think you and I both know that an adoption is not something we earn; it’s something we receive. To be adopted into a family is not something that one achieves, but rather a gift one accepts. The parents are the active ones. Adoption agencies don’t train children to recruit parents; they seek parents to adopt children. The parents make the call and fill out the paper and endure the interviews and pay the fees and wait and wait. Can you imagine prospective parents saying, “We’d like to adopt Tracy, but first we want to know a few things? Does he have a house to live in? Does he have money for tuition? Does he have a ride to school each morning and clothes to wear every day? Can he prepare his own meals and mend his own clothes?”
No agency would stand for such talk. Its representative would lift their hand and say, “Wait a minute. You don’t understand. You don’t adopt Tracy because of what he has, you adopt him because of what he needs; and he needs a home.”
The same is true with God. He doesn’t adopt us because of what we have. He doesn’t give us His name because of our wit, or wallet, or good attitude. God is not a fair-weather Father, one that owns me only when I’m doing good, I can count on Him to be in my corner no matter how I perform.
Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us unto His own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure (Eph. 1:3-5 NLT).
I’m delight to be adopted into His family as one of His sons.
What about you?
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
