The Ever Present Question: WHY?

Adopting...Everyone you talk to will agree that it is the "right" thing to do. No one doubts that fact. If you are adopting, I am sure you have heard "Oh, that is a good thing you are doing", from the majority of the population. I am also sure that you have been asked how you decided to adopt (or in essence: why?) Everyone has their own answer, and this post is me explaining my personal view on the subject. I have never adopted a child, in fact I am only 15, but i see a lot of parallels in adopting in this day to our Christian faith. I have seen what adopting entangles, though, because my parents have adopted 2 beautiful children from Ethiopia and have found out today that 4 more are officially ours! Alrighty...hold on because here I go....
Did you know that there is over 150 MILLION orphans in the world today? 150 MILLION children, whom many of which will never know what true love is all about. Yet, if we are Christians, that is if Jesus, the son of God, who died in our place and rose again, proving to the world who He was, is the Lord of our hearts, then we all know what love is, no matter what our family or even life situation is, because, "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us..." 1 John 3:16 We know love because we know Christ; the ultimate offering of love.

Yet one thing pains me: If we are Christians, have we forgotten that we ourselves are adopted?

"For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God" Romans 8:15-16

When i think of my salvation, I echo David's cry in Psalm 8 "What is man that YOU take thought of him?". I can't help but be humbled when I look at the cross because there a perfect sinless man CHOSE to die, because of me. My friend was talking to me one day and she said, "I have been thinking a lot about the thief on the cross. Just thinking about how there he was dieing for his sins, and right beside Him was Christ, dieing for the very sin he himself was dieing for." It would have been perfectly just for Christ, in His righteousness, to never have made the propitiation for our sins. He would have been PERFECTLY just to leave us alone. But His love is so amazing and strong that He wanted to take our place. No one killed Him...He willing laid himself down. The perfect Holy God, humbled himself for whom? Dirty, arrogant, and very ignorant sinners like us. And WE, of ALL people become children of the MOST HIGH God, who CREATED THE UNIVERSE!!! We, of all people, were adopted into the family of God.

Now, just think about all those children. Many are dirty, many are not perfect, but all need an intervention from someone other than themselves, just like we could do nothing about our sinful state without Christ. We needed His intervention, and they need an intervention from somone brought about by Himself.

The second thing that gets me is this: Although salvation is free; it's a gift to us, it was anything but free to God. Do we see the high value in our relationship with Christ? It cost God His Son! God and Jesus had a perfect relationship; a perfect union, but God the Father turned His righteous wrath on God the Son and severed their perfect union. The cost of our salvation was HIGH!! Do we see it that way?

In the same way, as most of you know, the cost of adoption is high. This small but MAJOR fact is the main reason that people do not adopt. But have we already forgotten the price Christ paid for us so that we could be called Children of God?

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are." 1 John 3:1

I am reminded that God knows the price of adoption...He paid it for the ENTIRE world! He knows the situation you are in and He knows the state of our family! Take comfort that our God is a God of adoption, and He is faithful!

Here are the Roman 8 verses...they are in a different translation than earlier.

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
The Future Glory Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are... And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children..." Romans 8:13-19,23a

So the question "WHY?"...this is my answer.

By: Jillian Mansell