Adopted

This morning at Shelbyville First Baptist Church, Holly Prosser shared her testimony about adopting her daughter Ellie.  Ellie’s story is a heart-wrenching, fascinating drama about moving from an Ethiopian orphanage to a loving, American family where she is growing and flourishing.  Check out the picture of Ellie and “mom” this past Christmas.  Also, be sure to checkout Holly’s blog here!

God does the exact same thing for us when we place our faith in the Lord Jesus.  He moves us from a position of helplessness to a position of hope.  He adopts us as His own child and promises to provide and care for us throughout eternity.  When business guru Peter Drucker was asked why he became a Christian, he simply answered, “There’s no better deal!”  Indeed, there’s no better deal than being adopted by God Himself.

Look how the Apostle John describes this awesome deal of adoption:

     ¹How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  ³ Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.  1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)