The three men had been drinking heavily and partying all night. Now, as their car approached the intersection where they needed to turn toward home, the effects of too much alcohol caught up with them.
By the time they saw the other car, it was too late. The force of the impact sent the men’s car tumbling down an embankment. The man asleep in the back seat probably never knew what happened, because he died just moments after the police arrived. That man was my father.
I was just a toddler at the time, so I don’t remember him at all. Later, I learned that my family had been notorious for their wild lifestyle.
My life dramatically changed with that car accident. A relative who saw me lying alone in a filthy crib knew that my mother had spoken of placing me in an orphanage, so she and her husband offered to adopt me. My mother quickly accepted the offer.
Since my only garment was the one I was wearing when I was adopted, my parents immediately purchased new clothing for me and took responsibility for my other needs. Soon I was calling them “Mommy” and “Daddy” and enjoying a new lifestyle that even included listening to Bible stories and going to church. But, in spite of the blessing of being adopted by wonderful, decent people, I didn’t realize that I needed to be adopted again.
My family tree was riddled by ugly, noticeable sin, but every family tree has its own blights and defects. No one is born into a perfect, sinless family. We all botch up our records – some more than others. At some point we lie, steal, or lose our tempers. We feel envy and pride, we think evil thoughts and we behave selfishly. We do what we shouldn’t do, and we often fail to do what we should do.
God calls every violation of His perfect law “sin”. We are all classified as sinners because, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
We can’t atone for our sins by attending church, giving to charity or being good citizens. In fact, God says that a sinner’s good deeds are like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
“God is love” (1 John 4:16), but He is also Just. That is why He devised a wonderful plan. The Son of God would be born as a baby in Bethlehem. By taking upon Himself a body of flesh and blood, He could become the Saviour for those who turn to Him in faith. The Lord Jesus Christ loved the world so much that He was willing to hang on the cross and suffer for sin that did not belong to Him. God poured out His wrath on Jesus. Because Jesus’ payment was enough to satisfy God’s justice and holiness, Jesus arose from the dead, making a way for those who trust Him for salvation to be rescued and adopted into the family of God.
In some ways spiritual adoption is like earthly adoption
What does it mean to be adopted by God? In some ways spiritual adoption is like earthly adoption. For example:
- My earthly adoption took place at a specific time in my life. I wasn’t born adopted. Adoption into God’s family is a definite event as well, occurring at the time that a person trusts Jesus Christ as his/her personal Saviour.
- My parents provided clean, new clothing for me, but God clothes His children with something better; He clothes them with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This means that, because Jesus has already paid the person’s sin debt, God as Judge no longer holds the penalties of the law against them.
- My adoption was a legal contract which was not dependent on my behaviour. There was no escape clause that could nullify the adoption. Spiritual adoption is the same. Once God has adopted someone, that person is His child forever.
The one thing that earthly adoption could not give me was a new spiritual heart that loved God and wanted Him to be the Lord of my life. By the time I was a teenager, I had read enough of the Bible to know that I was a sinner. But I didn’t realize that I couldn’t do anything about it by myself. I made long lists of resolutions that I promptly broke. I tried to do things that I thought would please God.
Then I found Isaiah 53. That passage in the Bible showed me that Jesus had already taken my punishment and paid my debt. He had done everything that needed to be done! At last, I had peace and assurance. That day I was adopted a second time – this time into God’s family!
Have you personally trusted that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins? Do you have a definite time when you were adopted into God’s family?
Yvonee Hess
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