Thursday, November 14, 2013

Adopted


You walk into a room filled with children. On one side of the room the children are neatly dressed. Their hair is well groomed. Their clothes are neat and clean. They appear to be happy little boys and girls between the ages of four to nine. You can tell by their conversations they are bright kids.

You turn your attention to the other side of the room where you notice one little boy sitting alone. He appears angry with sullen eyes. The appearance of his skin is smudged from dirt. His hair has not been combed or appears to be washed in some time. His clothes are dirty and tattered. The kid is defiant and rebellious to authority as you observe his interaction with others.

As you observe this scene a man steps into the room. Not just any man. This man is looking to adopt a child for these children are all orphans. One by one the man inspects the children and visits with them.

Then he makes his choice. Your jaw drops open when he chooses the dirty sullen little boy to be his son. This little boy had nothing to offer but he was the one adopted.

That is exactly what happened to me when Jesus walked into the room and chose to adopt me as his son. My sin, my bad attitude, my anger, my rebellion, and my wounded heart offered nothing of value to Jesus but he chose to adopt and redeem me. [Eph 1:5]

This truth is staggering. I brought nothing to the table but my sin and neither did you. You were just as dirty and unattractive to Christ on the inside as me. You did not bring anything to Christ but your sin either.

Wonder of wonders he chose us for adoption to be his own. May we forever live to praise him and to please him. May we forever be reminded he adopted us simply out of his own good pleasure and love for us.

This truth humbled me as I shared it with the boys this morning in our devotion. My soul is overwhelmed with gratitude for God choosing to adopt me when I had nothing to offer in return. John Newton got it right when he wrote, "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was once was lost and now I am found was blind but now I see."

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