"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1a)
I became my parents' child through childbirth to my mom, Carol and father, Cliff. My name, with theirs, is on a birth certificate issued by St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac, Wis. I was given my name by them. It is legal and official, recognized by courts and public entities everywhere.
I have five brothers and sisters, also natural born to Cliff and Carol who share this relationship. My dad has passed, and when my mother passes, if there is anything left to inherit, I will be an heir along with my brothers and sisters and anyone else my mom might name.
My wife and I have two children. They became our children through adoption. When my wife and I found out that a medical condition would make it likely we could not conceive, we chose to make our family through adoption.
Our daughter, Katy, was born in South Korea. She became officially and legally our daughter after Sue and I went through all the processes and procedures required by the courts and other state and federal agencies.
Our son, Tyler, was born somewhere in Wisconsin. Again we went through everything we needed to go through make Tyler our son in every way.
They are our children because we wanted them to be our children and did everything we needed to do to make that happen. That's what love does. We chose them and they will be our children as long as we live.
Though born naturally to my parents, I am also an adopted child! God adopted me! Imagine that! He did it because He loved me and wanted me to be His child. He saw in my sinful rebellion that I was 'homeless" ... a spiritual orphan with no hope in this world or the next. Only He could do something about that. And He did.
He became flesh and blood in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, to satisfy the legal requirements of my sin, making it possible, if I was so willing, to be His adopted son. He entered my name in His permanent family directory (the Lamb's Book of Life) and says for all to hear, "Mark is my son with all the rights and responsibilities of our relationship."
God wants to adopt everyone! He doesn't want there to be any spiritual orphans. He wants you to be His son or daughter now and He wants you to know for certain you will share in the inheritance of His forever Kingdom. He wants you to know the joy of having brothers and sisters all over the world who share the same Father.
But God never forced anyone to be part of His family. He's made the way for it to happen, in fact, the only way it can happen.
The Apostle John speaks of it this way, "He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:11-12)
I'm an adopted child of God called to serve as a local pastor. I see the church as being an "adoption agency" on behalf of the Kingdom of God. Call me or stop by for more information.
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Voll is pastor of the Village Bible Evangelical Free Church.
Religion on 07/29/2015