Adoption is many things. It’s a choice and a commitment. It’s choosing to bring a child into a family and to treat them without distinction from a biological child. It’s also legal and final. Ultimately, it’s a beautiful act of love- and it’s what the eternal God has done for those who are in Christ.
When we trust in Christ, the Son of God, for salvation, we become united to him. He in us, and we in him! It’s through this union that we are counted as sons and daughters of God. Through Christ, we are adopted into God’s family with the full blessings and benefits of sonship. This means God loves us as He loves Christ; that He will never cast us out; and that we are joint heirs with Christ. How amazing is that?!
The writers of the New Testament express this theme of adoption repeatedly. The Apostle John wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). In the book of Romans the Apostle Paul stated that we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons; we have received the Spirit that cries, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). In his letter to the Galatians, he put it this way: “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, though faith…and if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:26, 29).
I love those verses! But my favorite words of all regarding this matter come from Jesus. Just before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed a high priestly prayer. This prayer was not only for his disciples, but for all who would believe in him. In his words we are assured of the beautiful union we have with Christ. It’s also here we see the desire of our Savior for his people: that they would know the love of the Father. Consider his prayer:
“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me… I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:23, 26).
In Christ, we are brought into the family of God as adopted children. As His child, God the Father lavishes His love upon us, loving us as He loves His Son. What security! We cannot be snatched from His hand nor can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ. We are His children forever.
Spend some quiet moments re-reading the above passages of Scripture. Thank God that He has called you into His love, into His family. Pray that He will give you strength to comprehend that you are truly His child.
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