Adoption... God's Heart

I've heard it said time and time again that life doesn't come with an instruction manual... not the case actually. The Bible is our complete "How To Guide" for life and all it's happenings. (You also have a 24/7 support line to God called "prayer".) The Bible gives us models of how our relationships should be and counsels us on how to deal with problems within them.  It teaches us about forgiveness and mercy, how to be strong and brave during times of adversity, and to have faith through it all. But my favorite part is that in it God reveals His heart to us.  This part is very near and dear to me... adoption.

1.  God has a heart for adoption.
   

   Psalms 10:14,17-18  You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

   Psalms 68:5-6  Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

   Hosea 14:3  In you the orphan finds mercy.

2. Our very salvation is an adoption. In our adoption, we are set as equals with Jesus, co-heirs in glory.
   

   Galatians 4:4-7  When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

   Ephesians 1:4-6  For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight in love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

   Romans 8:16-17  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

3. We as Christians also have a call to adopt and to help the less fortunate.

   James 1:27  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

   Matthew 18:5  And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

   Matthew 25:40   “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

   Deuteronomy 24:19  When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

   Isaiah 1:17  Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

There are countless examples of compassion toward the needy and less fortunate in the Bible, including the compassion that God showed us in sending Jesus.  Examples of adoption in the Bible include the stories of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10) and Esther (Esther 2:15). Also consider that Mary and Joseph did not conceive Jesus, as he is the son of God. They raised Jesus, cared for him, and loved him as their own, just as in an adoption. We feel so blessed that God has called us to a cause so near to his heart, and we pray that God continues to bless us and guide us on our journey.