Adoption
April 30, 2025
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. — 1 John 3:2, NIV.
One concept in the Gospel of Jesus is an essential one but perhaps too often overlooked. It is the life changing experience of being born anew. When an individual finds success in their search for the truth about God, and Jesus has become an integral part of their everyday life, this adoption process has begun.
My brother has written a book, There Are More Like Me. Its theme is about his coming to terms with learning that he was adopted.
As a teenager, he began to feel somehow different. Seeing his physical appearance was not exactly like Dad’s or others in our family, and in other ways feeling out of place, he began to seek resolution.
I believe most teens go through phases where they feel awkward and out of place, but Doug saw more about himself that seemed odd, and he became determined to find resolutions to his inner unrest.
Eventually he confronted Dad about his feelings and Dad knew it was time, Doug being mature enough, so he brought out my brother’s adoption papers.
Long story short, he went through a lot of troubling changes, but he got through it, and he even organized groups to counsel adoptees and help them work their way through those types of changes.
Now, our Dad was still our Dad. Mom was still our Mom. Doug and I are still brothers, but also, he reunited with his Birth Family and worked through all those changes — not only with himself and Mom and Dad but with his Birth Mom and sisters and brother.
Despite those bumps in the road, my brother kept on keeping on. After all, he is the type of guy who doesn’t like to sit still. He worked for Habitat for Humanity. He earned a PhD in psychology, and was a professor, sharing his knowledge. He gave his “back forty” to an environmental Conservancy, and, more to the point, founded groups for adoptees to help them successfully navigate the complicated and often difficult changes — those bumps in the road…
Although his theistic views are not like mine, I never hold such differences between people as reasons to be “shunned.” I look at what we do.
Turning toward my theistic view, this essay, briefly, is to help steady the boat in the storms that every Believer will inevitably go through… and it is very similar to the realities of the adoption processes I have just, very briefly, discussed.
Changes are not always easy. Emotions can be like walking in dark forests. Changes can make things unclear or even threatening until we reach a sundrenched “holler.”
So, we just have to keep on keeping on…
Jesus taught, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” — John 16:33, NLT.
Like my brother in his pursuits, Jesus did not teach fantasy. He worked in the real world with people who were also working in the real world. He didn’t just talk just to hear himself speak. Jesus taught people to prepare for the inevitable so they would not be knocked off their feet but have good success. That also includes success in their new reality of adoption into the Family of God.
The Apostle Paul wrote a similar concern for the Believers in one of the groups he founded:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” — Galatians 1:6–8, NIV.
So, we have to persevere with caution, as well as determination.
Generally speaking, sometimes we have a sensation that we are strangers walking in a strange land. We might even get the sinking feeling that we are like abandoned orphans, hoping that someone somewhere will notice and see we yearn for someone to adopt us
Well, someone has noticed.
God notices…
The adoption we can have is through Jesus Christ — the same one God offers to everyone. He knows how vital it is for our successful journey.
Why do I say successful? Because He offers us new life with a new nature into a new reality; The reality is adoption through Jesus — Jesus offering a new relationship — that adoption into the family of God. Yes. It begins in the now and continues into the future.
Furthermore, this new life changes us from the inside and we — if we continue to choose to persevere — gradually begin to reap the rewards of being His sons and daughters — heirs of all the Promises God has made for His people. This includes eternity filled with these good fruits: “… love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” — Galatians 5:22–23.
Those sound a whole lot better to me than anything I ever had produced in my life before. Yes, and they keep on keeping on.
Now, I must note why I said “if we continue to persevere.” We are free to leave our present way of life and we are free to leave the new life Jesus gives… but I wouldn’t advise making that U-turn… I now much prefer simply to deal with the bumps in the road rather than driving off a cliff to avoid them… and that is how I used to drive, heading towards the disasters just to avoid those pesky bumps.
Now, in what they pontificate, some people have ill-advised or even purposely hostile intentions to lead people astray from considering God, Jesus, and the Bible as — let’s say — reliable sources.
This was also the same case in the era of the first Christian churches and is still persisting today. (The more things change, the more they stay the same?)
So, we just have to keep going…
It will be a benefit for you to review the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1–9.. This reality Jesus wanted people to see and to recognize, but it seems he especially wanted people who knew they needed a Rest Stop — like a sign on the highway that says. “Food and Fuel/Exit One Mile.”
They are those who are searching for it, trying to understand the map, trying to find the exit, and He ends the parable with “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
In another verse, Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” — John 8:31–32, NLT.
So, we just have to keep moving along…
I am ending with another Scripture excerpt
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” — James 1:2–8, NLT.
So, keep on keeping on. Blessings — Laura Story (with lyrics)
