Adoption reflects God's desire for us

 Adoption and Sanctification- understanding what it means for you, and for your child

In the Bible, "adoption" is a spiritual term for God making believers his children through a gracious, chosen act. Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are brought into God's spiritual family, gaining all the rights, privileges, and inheritance of sons and daughters of God, which is a key theme in the New Testament. It's a metaphor for being chosen and brought into a permanent, loving relationship, distinct from both physical birth and slavery.

Why our adoption in Christ is such a big deal:

• A gracious act of God:  It is a choice God makes, not a result of human worth or fitness, but it does require our agreement to enter.  God has been pursuing us, as He has pursued mankind since He first created Adam and Eve and gave them free will.  His desire is reunification with the children who were, are, and always will be His desire.  Our adoption as God's children is rooted in God's original intention for us, His eternal purpose, and His desire to show grace.  Genesis-Revelation, Ephesians 1:4-5  (Desiring God)

• Based on faith:  A person becomes a child of God by receiving Christ and believing in his name, not through natural birth or human will.  Accepting our adoption is the beginning of a committed, covenant relationship with our Heavenly Father.  It says we take on His name and desire to know Him and become like Him.  We recognize our need for Him, yet not fully knowing what our life with Him will look like, we trust Him.  Galatians 4:4-5  (Lifetime Adoption)

• Gain inheritance:  Through adoption, believers become heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, receiving both present and future blessings and inheritance.  Romans 8:15  (Disciplers Bible Studies and The Gospel Coalition)

• Spirit of sonship:  The Holy Spirit gives believers the "Spirit of adoption" which enables them to cry out to God as "Abba, Father" (a term of intimate address).  We get to enter into a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, creator of all the universe, all powerful, all knowing, lacking nothing.  Galatians 4:4-7, Psalm 50:10 (GotQuestions.org and Bible Study Tools)

• Roman cultural context:  The New Testament use of the term is a metaphor, or analogy, that would have been powerful to its original Roman audience. Roman adoption provided a way for a man to adopt a son with all the rights of an heir, and this adopted son could not be disowned.  (Disciplers Bible Studies)

• Distinction from Christ:  It is important to note the difference between Christ, who is the unique Son of God by nature, and believers, who are adopted as sons and daughters by grace. 1 John 3:1 (StudyLight.org)

In the Bible, sanctification is the process of being made holy and set apart for God's purpose through the work of the Holy Spirit. It includes an initial, definitive act of being cleansed from sin at the time of salvation (the point of our adoption), and a continuous, ongoing process of growing in holiness and becoming more Christlike throughout one's life (the rest of our life as a child of God).

When we step into that covenant of adoption, which is a covenant, because it is between 2 people of which we can choose whether we want to be adopted, we must decide that we will trust.  Trust is the forerunner that we must daily choose, that looks like surrender, that brings us closer to our Heavenly father.  Trust allows us to experience the highs and lows of life, in this covenant relationship, with faith and hope.  It says, "not my will, but Yours be done."  Trust says, "I will consider whatever risk worth the relationship I get to have with You."  Trust believes because He said, because He did, and because He will do again.  

This is the relationship we reflect to our children when we adopt them.  We pursued them, just as God pursued us, and we proposed an unbreakable sonship relationship not based on their present condition or future promises. We understand that their fully becoming will be a process that will take years, and will not be complete even when they can legally leave our home as adults.  We will forever be their parents, and the greatest accomplishment in our adoption is that they would understand they are not only deeply loved by us, but by their Heavenly Father, by whose abundance of grace we offered ourselves to them, with grace enough to cover every conflict that would come.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are brought into God's spiritual family, gaining all the rights, privileges, and inheritance of sons and daughters of God: Adoption. When we stepped into adopting our children, we offered the same thing: relationship as a son or daughter, gaining all the rights, privileges, and the inheritance of a Brown.

It is the song I sing over all my children:

I love you, (Nathaniel, Aliya, my Jaxon, Elizabeth) 

you are my sweet child.

Forever I love you, no matter what you say or do.

I love you  (enter name- additional words to make 3 syllabus)

you are my sweet child.

Forever I love you, and I thank God for you!