Today's Devotional

 

November 15, 2007

                                                                                  

Subject:   Adoption: Another Act Of Grace 

Ephesians 1:5 - "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will," 

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My wife and I were looking into some adoption agencies.  We found that there are lots of differences in the type of adoptions that can take place.  However simply the act of adoption is an interesting phenomenon when you place it in the context of what God has done. 

The dictionary says that adoption means to "take by choice into a relationship."  So that's what happened to us when Jesus took us in.  There are lots of arguments about what our role is in the salvation process but lets look at it in these terms.  A newborn child with no mother or father has no role to play in determining where he or she will end up.  That child ends up waiting for adoption or to be placed in relationship with a family.  We were all spiritually born just like that.  God through His own choice saw us and decided that He would adopt us; place us in relationship with His family.  That doesn't mean that we'll always act like we're in His family, but it does mean that He has done what is required to call us sons and daughters.

Adoption then is simply an act of grace.   We have become God's by His divine act of love.  With that in mind, shouldn't we live more like the Father who adopted us.  God is truly gracious and adoption, His adoption of us and whenever we choose to do so in this world, is simply another act of grace. 

Carlen