After years of infertility, some missionary friends of ours decided to adopt in the country they’re serving. The path they traveled was fraught with hurdles and heartaches. They were examined by doctors and psychologists. Their home was inspected and they were forced to plow through miles of red tape on numerous occasions. But finally, they have a beautiful five-year-old girl.
I was amazed by the last step in the process. It must have been the most daunting of all. Once they had been approved by everyone else, they had to be accepted by the child they were trying to adopt. They had done more than she could ever imagine to bring her into their family. All the expense was theirs. They didn’t chose her based on her talents, fortune, looks or aptitude … the adoption process was fueled by their desire to love on an unloved child. But after all the love they had invested … in the end she had to ask to be part of their family.
I wept as I read the news of that last step in the adoption process. No human analogy is perfect, but this spoke to me of God adopting me as his child. He did all the work. He did it not based on anything in me, but on his propensity to love the unloved. He broke into my world and paid all the fees … and they were staggering! But in the end he did not force me to love him. I had to accept being accepted into his family.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 1:11-12
Ah the beautiful mystery of God’s foreknowing adoption and our choice in receiving the gift! For more on your adoption, see Ephesians 1:3-14
