(I wrote this as an article for my father-in-law's newsletter but since it is on adoption, I wanted to share it here as well.)
When I was just a little girl, a Korean children’s choir
come to our church and gave a concert. I wasn’t very old at the time, but I have a
vivid memory of the children standing up in the front of our church, singing. What really impacted me about this choir was
not that they were Korean, and it was not that they were children, but that
they were orphans. Once I grasped
the full meaning of what it meant to be an orphan and then absorbed the idea
that these children had come to America in hope of finding a family,
I was convinced that one of them should be mine. She stood in the very front, a sweet little
girl with jet black hair cut short. She
was about 4 or 5 years old in my estimation and standing still for the concert was
quite a challenge for her. I just knew
by the looks of her that she should be mine.
After all, I had prayed for a little sister for all of my young years. At
that point in my life I was not particularly impressed with my two older brothers. Now, here in front of me, stood a little girl
who had no family. I reminded the Lord as well as my parents that
I was the one who had desperately prayed for a sister. Although I did not sway my parents in the
least despite my many cries and pleas, something was deposited deep in my heart
that day.
Every child needs a family. It
seemed so terribly wrong from my little girl perspective that we, who were a
family, could not welcome the one who had none.
The word of God declares in James 1:27 that the very heart
and nature of religion that is “pure and faultless” is to care for widows and
orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. God’s entire redemption plan is centered on
the story of a loving Father who has come to rescue orphan children and adopt
them into His family. The price He was
willing to pay for such an endeavor was nothing short of extravagant and it takes
my breath away. Why would He not ask
us, as His children, to also love the weak and oppressed in such a way that it
mirrors the very heart of His redemption plan?
Without Jesus, we are all orphans in some way, searching
for the unconditional love of a family, the love of a father and a mother. Sometimes
we find a measure of that love in the embrace of our parents, or the comforting
arms of a spouse, or perhaps in the dependent love of our children. Yet the world is filled with countless people
who have never known a love that truly fills their souls. Jesus
said, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them.” (1 John 2:15b) The reality is that when humanity loves the
world and the things of this world with such a resolute passion, it is a resounding
testimony to the fact that the love of the Father is not in them. When we truly know the love of our Father
in heaven, the things of this world “grow strangely dim in the light of His
glory and grace.” He is the only one who
is truly able to fill us and satisfy our hearts at the very core of our being.
For years I have prayed James 1:27, asking God to give me “pure
and faultless religion,” both in my own life and in His church. I never really thought too much about what it
would look like if God answered that prayer, I just simply prayed it. Several years ago our family found our paths
crossing and our lives intersecting with multiple families with adopted
children. At first it seemed just coincidental. Then each of our 5 children became close
friends with adopted children and with the siblings of adopted children. For a season, we could not go to the store,
out to eat, or to the park without seeing adoptive families. Suddenly they were everywhere. They came to our door, they came to our
church, they seemed to follow us wherever we went, and their lives shouted to
us something we had never before considered. Every
child needs a family. How could we, who
are a family, not welcome the one who has none?
“This is pure and faultless
religion, to care for widows and orphans in their distress.” Suddenly, as if a light was turned on in a darkened
room, we understood. We were being
invited to participate in the Gospel of Redemption at a whole new level. We responded with a resounding “yes” to God’s
amazing invitation. We said “yes” to
adoption! “And whoever welcomes one such
child in my name, welcomes me.” (Matt. 18:5)
