What do we think of when we hear the word adoption? We might think of two parents longing for a child, maybe children from other countries, or even a child right from your hometown being brought into a family that was not originally theirs. What people tend to forget is that adoption is Biblical. Not in the sense that you must adopt a two-month-old baby from Taiwan, which some people are called to do; But in the sense that when you accept Christ into your life, you are adopted into the Kingdom of God and will have a place there forever.
What is the difference between a Dad, and a Father? Now I know this may be a confusing topic for a 16-year-old student to talk about, but in a way, it’s not. A Dad is someone who goes to your football, softball, or soccer games. Who reads you bedtime stories at night when you’re little and scared. Someone who protects you, and gets to know the boy that wants to take you on your first date to make sure “he’s good enough for my daughter” or for boys he’s the advice giver. He teaches you how to shave, and tells you how to treat a girl properly. What else is a Dad? He’s the provider and spiritual leader in the home. Although a Dad does not do that by himself, he too has a Heavenly Father who guides them in the right direction.
But what is a Father? Who is your Father?
Once you are have accepted Christ into your life, you gain a lot of things. You gain a new friend in Jesus, a stronghold, and a foundation to set your feet upon. Do you know what else you gain? You said it, a Father! A shelter in the storm, who comforts and shields you always, someone who truly sent His son to die for… you! That’s love; a Father protects, comforts, teaches and most importantly guides you into spiritual teachings and behaviors.
Did you know you get into arguments with your Heavenly Father? It’s like “what? No, I don’t”, although you do and don’t even realize it. We do not realize, but we get so lost and caught up without God. One step away from the cross and you are capable of any sin. We lose our guide, who is steadily reaching out His hand to us trying to guide us. We should be able to trust our Father, but do we?
Okay, story time. So when I was 14 right after my birthday, I found out that my Dad, who had raised me was not actually my biological Dad. Me being 14, my entire world was rocked, and I had no idea what to do. I could barely look my Dad in the eyes, and I had no idea how to cope with feeling like I had been lied to my entire life. My mom doesn’t know who it is, so neither do I. So often I think about the normal questions you would ask yourself. Is he alive? Do I have half brothers and sisters? What’s His name? Do I look like him? To this day I still wonder these things. I had no idea, and I was not certain of anything. Just months before, I had accepted Christ, and so I was a fairly new Christian. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t known before and I didn’t feel like I had a Dad, a Father or anything of the sort. I was lost and I cried a lot as you can imagine, myself being shaken up about it I didn’t know how to go to God. If I’m being honest I didn’t even think about it.
God heals, and now I realize that first of all, biology does not matter! I have been truly blessed with a Dad who loves me and raised me. Not only did I realize that, but I realized to ANY child who feels orphaned, doesn’t have a Dad figure, they have a Beautiful Heavenly Father who calls them loved and special and beautiful and created in His own image. You have a Father. A Father of LOVE.
I went on a trip to Louisville, Kentucky with Northcrest Baptist Church this year with the students on a trip called Mfuge! It is a wonderful program that teaches students who have a desire to be like Christ the importance of mission work, and I’m thankful to have attended this trip for 3 years, and one trip to Zacapa, Guatemala. On this trip to Mfuge, the worship team played this song called Kids of Grace. In one of the lines, it says “We’ve been adopted by the Father of love”. That is truly what God is. A Father of Love. It is a truly beautiful privilege to be loved by a God who pursues US! Mere human sinners, but because of love that was placed on the cross we have an open communication line with a Lord of Lords who chooses us daily! Think about the last time someone chose you and compare that to God’s love.
So what does that mean for us? If God first loved us, and we are to love others as ourselves, what do we do? But first, how can we help ourselves so that then we can help others?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Fathers of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 ESV
Remember when I said that God, our Father, guides us in the way which we should go and trust him? Think of Jesus as like the friend who’s kind of helping you cheat on that test you didn’t study for. Now I know you’re like woah woah.. Mattie. Are you really comparing Jesus to something he wouldn’t condone? No, I am not. I am comparing the actions. So this Friend who you know is really, really smart looks over to you during this test and whispers “Hey, the answer to #9 is C”, and you think to yourself “Well I usually don’t cheat”. You realize you’re incapable of doing well because you haven’t studied, but you also know that your friend could still be wrong. It may seem unlikely that they are wrong, but you don’t trust them anyways because you feel like you can do it yourself and you end up failing your test. That’s exactly where Christians mess up. It’s like as if Jesus who is our friend, is showing us the way and giving us the answers to life or our test, through His word. Even if it’s as simple as taking a test, we come to a conclusion that we’ve done it by ourselves before so we think “Hey I don’t need Jesus for this, I’ve done it by myself before and it turned out okay”. Notice it’s just “okay”. The problem is we as Christians, adults and students etc. think we can do things by ourselves that were never supposed to tackle alone anyways. We don’t trust our friend Jesus, and in result, we crash and burn. We fail our test; we lose our best friend over something stupid. All because we were never supposed to handle this life without the Holy Spirit. We are incapable without the Spirit of God. It’s as if God is saying “Here please just take it!”, and we don’t trust because of our sin, pride, and selfishness that we can do this life without Christ and succeed. Crazy right? By becoming adopted by our Father, the King, we no longer have to face those situations alone. We just have to trust him. Trust in the one who loves you so much that he would die for you.
So what does all this mean? Being adopted by the Father of Love? What’s the result? Well, my friends, the result is full security and comfort that we get from our Father. We will no longer have to worry about where we will go someday, or have the fear that we may end up in bad places. You know why? Jesus Saves.
“But first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” Matthew 6:33 ESV
I pray that as you read this article you may have connected with it and learned something. I hope you learned that no matter what you’ve done, your past, present, or future, you will always have a Father who loves you so much. Knowing that you’re safe and accepted in the Kingdom of God by the Father of Love! I pray this moved you in some way. Whatever you’re going through, YOUR FATHER LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY!
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:12-13 NIV