(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.)

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)