Why Adopt??

Yesterday, I heard someone say these words... "Adoption is a fad." It wasn't the first and I'm sure it won't be the last comment I hear during this process that I don't agree with. I had a hard time gripping why someone would say this. I will love our daughter the same way I love our sons. I've never heard anyone saying having biological kids was a fad. The length, stresses and difficulty of adoption makes it quite hard for me to believe that people think this is a fun, faddish way of growing a family. However, if this is a trend for some, I pray that it is a trend that doesn't fade.

All of this made me start to think. Why should Christians care to adopt? Here are some thoughts...

• God adopted us---selfish sinners like us--- into his family. He made us His own children. In fact, he has made us heirs!! Salvation, deliverance and rescue are at the center of God's very being!!! Adoption is a way for us to portray the adoptive love of God right in our home. 

• "Father of the fatherless, defender of widows- this is GOD, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:5-6). God's heart is full of love and concern for the fatherless. HE is their Father! Maybe he sent us that we would be His means for caring for the fatherless.

• God has given us a desire for holiness. He tells us that caring for orphans is "religion that is pure and undefiled" (James 1:27). What better way to express our pure desires than to bring an orphan into our home? 

• Who is going to rescue, love, care for, and train up helpless children who have no parents? If not Christians, who will?

• Our desire to be like Jesus should drive our motivation.
• "And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me." (Mark 9:36)
• "...Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' " (Matthew 25:37-40) 

I pray that you pray not only for our family on this journey, but for all Christians to start there own journey for the fatherless. Maybe your journey means you pray for these sweet children every day who don't enjoy the luxuries, wants and needs we enjoy. Maybe your journey means you go to a children's home and spend some time with a fatherless child that just needs someone to throw a baseball with. I pray that we all start a journey- not to follow a fad- to care about the things Jesus cares about.