Topic : Adoption

My Father is rich in houses and lands
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.

My Father’s own Son, the Saviour of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is reigning forever on high,
And will give me a home in heaven by and by.

I once was an outcast, stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth;
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.

I’m a child of the King, a child of the King;
With Jesus my Saviour, I’m a child of the King.

Harriet E. Buell

Source unknown

“I’ll be good. Don’t make me leave. I’ll be good.” Baby Richard, 4-year-old boy who was removed from the home of his adoptive parents and turned over to his biological father on Illinois Supreme Court orders.

Newsweek, May 15, 1995

God’s fatherly relationship with Jesus implies four things. First it implies authority. The father commands and disposes; the initiative which he calls his Son to exercise in resolute obedience to his Father’s will. Second, it implies affection; third, fellowship; fourth, honor: God wills to exalt his Son.

All this extends to God’s adopted children. In, through, and under Jesus Christ their Lord, they are ruled, loved, accompanied, and honored by their heavenly Father.

As Jesus obeyed God, so must they (1 John 5:1,3). As God loved his only-begotten Son, so he loves his adopted sons (John 16:27). As God had fellowship with Jesus, so he does with us (1 John 1:3). As God exalted Jesus, so he exalts Jesus’ followers, as brothers and sisters in one family (John 12:32; 17:24).

In these terms the Bible teaches us to understand the shape and substance of the parent-child relationship which binds together the Father of Jesus and the servant of Jesus.

Your Father Loves You, by James Packer, (Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986), page for May 6.

My wife and I waited 15 years for a child that never came by the natural way. However we were approached one day with a lead of a newborn not yet born. I remember standing in front of the judge on our day of adoption. He pointed his finger and asked of me, “Is anyone coercing you to adopt this little boy?” After we had assured him that we were doing so out of love for our sin, he made this statement. “From today on, he is your son. He may disappoint you, even grieve you but he is your son. Everything you own one day will be his and he will bear your name.” Then he looked to the clerk and gave this command. “So order a change in this child’s birth certificate and may it reflect that these are the parents of this child.”

It was then that I realized that my Heavenly Father loved me so much that, without coercion, He loved me and gave His all to me. On that day, He changed my name and I gladly bear His name and His image.

Gerald Penix

The process through which a person who does not belong to a given family is formally brought into it and made a full, legal family member with the rights and responsibilities of that position. The practice of adoption was not common among the Jews, but was more widespread in the Greek and Roman world. The apostle Paul used the term to illustrate the truth that believers have been given the status of “sonship” in the heavenly family; they can call God “Father” (Rom. 3:15; Gal. 4:6). Adoption makes it clear that our sonship is conferred on us, in distinction from Christ’s, which is inherent.

The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Pub., Wheaton , IL; 1984), p. 346

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first gave you life and the second taught you to live in it.

The first gave you a need for love and the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name,

One gave you the seed of a talent the other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.
One gave you up--it was all that she could do.

The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me through your tears, the age old questions through the years,

Heredity or Environment--which are you the product of'
Neither my darling-neither; just two different kinds of love.

Anonymous

• The Prodigal Spouse, Dr. Les Carter, Nelson, 1990