Press the arrow to listen to a heart-warming song about adoption just released by Desperation Band.

Scripture
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

Observation
There are many children who pass by me in public places. I have no urge to talk to them, to drive them to school, to buy them clothes or to take them out for ice cream, because they are not my kids. I feel no responsibility for them because they belong to someone else.

I have had the experience of adoption. Of feeling the heart expand to take responsibility for children that do not belong to me. It was a strange feeling when it came. It was as if my heart stretched an extra size longer, and there was another human being inside of my heart. I love being a father and a foster-father!

How much better it feels to the orphan to be picked out of the line for adoption. It is especially heart-warming for a gangly, pimple-faced teenager who feels too old to be picked. The person in that line-up is me or you. The word adopted means “wanted”. God, who of all human titles has chosen the name “Father”, has chosen to focus all of that loving attention on us.

Application
My adoption is not a fiction; it is a reality. I am loved, cared for, watched over, corrected and supplied because I am a son. Accepting the fact “that is what we are” is one of the most important things we can do as a Christ follower. We must lift it out of dry theology books and make a family portrait with our own picture front and centre.

Prayer
Father, let those words roll over my spirit today: “that is what we are!” I want that to take over my thinking and living today. I am a son with all of the trimmings. It does feel good! Amen.