Thoughts on Adoption

"Taking care of orphans is a command. In no translation I have ever read has it said, "Now, if you feel like it, and when your home is big enough, and when you have enough money, THEN you should take care of the orphans. Nope--my Bible says to take care of the orphans! Period. No questions asked. No if. No but. No maybe.

...

There is no excuse for the 147 million orphans around the globe. No excuse. Where are the Christians to take care of them? There sure are enough of us to take care of the problem. If only we would get it."

From this post on No Greater Joy Mom.


Reece's Rainbow writes:
"In the United States alone, 137 million people claim to be Christians of some denomination. If only 1% of the Christians in this country adopted just ONE CHILD, 1.37 MILLION CHILDREN from abroad would have loving, Christian families to grow up in."


I'm not in the US, and I've no idea what the statistics here in Australia would be. But that isn't really the point. We're commanded in Scripture to take care of those less fortunate, especially the widows and the fatherless.

I recently watched From Terror to Triumph, and one of the statements that really stood out to me was the statement that there were many Christians who didn't make it into Foxe's Book of Martyrs, but who are heroes in the eyes of God for doing what was right, taking in babies that had been abandoned to exposure and bringing them up as their own.

There is just so much to say here! People are so much more responsive to the Gospel when they are young. After all, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Mark 10:15). Adoption, especially of those who are deemed "special needs" (which can vary from simple and easily corrected problems to severe physical, emotional and social issues) shows the love that God has placed in our hearts.

But perhaps most of all, adoption is one way we can imitate our Lord - "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship [also translated as adoption] And by him we cry, "Abba, Father". (Romans 8:15).