“Do you want to be parents, or conservators of your genetic code?”
I swallowed hard. Did he really just say that?
Well. What DO I want to be most? A parent, or a replicator?
Gosh. Why did he have to say it that way?!
Soul-quake
A seismic shift had occurred in my soul when I read those words from Dr. Russell Moore in his book, Adopted for Life. My wife, Amy, had been talking about adoption for years. I always said something terribly foolish; “I want to have one of my own first.” Yes, I really said that. I had no clue what adoption was, what it meant, or what being a parent was all about. Now, that one quote from Dr. Moore’s book dug itself into my heart, as it shook my preconceptions of parenting and adoption. Indeed, what did I want to be? Is parenting simply a biological process of replicating our genetic code?
Is parenting just biology? Or, is it more than biology?
Jesus was adopted
Jesus. Adopted. Let that sink in for a minute. The God of the universe, who took on flesh and was born of a woman was adopted.
Joseph found out Mary was pregnant with someone else’s child and wanted no part of the marriage. Joseph was willing to divorce Mary quietly rather than stone her to death for infidelity. However, God sent an angel to tell him that the baby she carried was conceived of the Holy Spirit. (Matt 1:18-25) So, Joseph trusted God and adopted Jesus. He became the earthly father of the Messiah through the ordinary means of adoption. He put claim to the child as his and raised him as his own. We have no record of what that looked like or how he could possibly raise his Creator. Yet, we know he fulfilled his vows to Mary which meant he laid claim to Jesus as father.
My wife and I have no clue what parenting our child*, yet we know there is a child we are called to parent. We don’t know what that will look like, but we know in Ethiopia is an orphan who will need parents, and we are those parents.
Not second-best
Recall the beautiful truth that flowed through Paul in Romans: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:14-15.)
There is no entry into the family of God except through adoption. Christ, our guarantor of a better covenant, began with adoption and ended in resurrection glory. So too do we who know Christ begin our life with him through adoption, and one day we will be resurrected in glory.
Adoption is not second best. Adoption is not an after thought. Adoption is God’s forethought. Adoption is God’s plan from before creation for the redemption of his elect.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3–6.)
We follow Christ
Christ was adopted by Joseph. God adopts us through faith in Christ. So then, we adopt to picture the gospel. We adopt to give homes to children who don’t have them, as God adopted us and gave us a home with him. (John 14:2-3) We adopt to have more children. Whether children enter our family through my wife’s womb or someone else’s, they are our children. Fully accepted and loved.
This is but a shadow of the eternal reality of Christ’s adoption of sinners by his blood. He chose us, we did not choose him. He bought a people for himself and gave them a father. Adopted by the Spirit of Christ for the glory of God by the substitutionary atonement of Christ.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
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* Whenever the adoption completes which is a long way off. Did I mention how painful and long adoption can be? Another time.
