Verse of the Day, Romans 8:23-25, Part TWO

"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:23-25 (NIV)

 

Adoption. For some, the idea of adoption is as foriegn to them as another language. Unless one has a personal experience with adoption, either as one who has been adopted, one who has adopted, or perhaps-sorrowfully-one who has tried to adopt but was unsuccessful, it is difficult to understand the depth of the word and he emotions that surround it.

 

I am an adopted child. I was born out of wedlock in Korea to a Korean mother and an Irish/American Soldier. I spent the first eighteen months of my life in an orphanage in Seoul, Korea. At eighteen-months I was adopted and brought to the United States and raised by an Italian mother and German father. These are the people that I call mom and dad. These are the only people that I have ever known as mom and dad. When I was 3 years-old, I became an American citizen.

 

Many people ask me if I have ever wanted to know my real parents. People have asked if I was ever curious about my real parents. I would shrug-and still do-and answer "no. The only people that I care about as my parents, I already know". And this is essentially true. There has been no deep desire to know people who gave me up at birth. The circumstances of my blood parents' lives came to my attention when I was a young sailor and I was being investigated for a security clearance; the results of that background investigation and the information about my parents is not relevant here, but it is something that I know.

 

Now for the most part, I have had no burning desire to track down my parents. I have never had any visions of a tearfull reunion, or an on-going relationship with my birth parents. So that means that everything is hunky dorey and okey-dokey, right?  We all live happily eve after, right?

 

Wrong. There are some deep issues that lie within my adoption, that for the most part I have overcome. I admit, sometimes I still struggle with them, but for the most part, the past is put to rest in the past. Sometimes I deal with fears of abandonment. Sometimes there are self-esteem issues. I mean, if my parents gave me up, it's obvious that I wasn't good enough, right? If I was a good enough child, then I would still be with my birth parents, right? At times I have fear opening up to and trusting females, because it was my mother who gave me to the orphanage. Again, this goes back to feelings of abandonment and self-esteem.

 

I could write a whole book on these issues and how I have dealt with them but that is not the purpose of me writing here. I will say that it takes a lot of faith in the Lord for me to get through these issues, sometimes on a day to day basis. Faith, that He knows the way for me. Faith in the fact that I have a higher purpose, that I was brought to the United Stateso fulfill a calling that I cannot see yet, but know lies just ahead of me. Faith that though humans may abandon me, the Lord never will. For some loving, "the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 223:37-38 (NIV)) , is a matter of convenience. For me it is a daily necessity, it is a matter of survival.

 

Once we are saved through Christ ("I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." John 10:9 (NIV)) we are aopted into the family of God. We may have been born Jews, Gentiles, Canaanites, Muslims, or heathens. But once we are saved by His grave and washed in the Blood of the Lamb, we are his children. It is love that adopts us. It is love that cares for us. It is an act of love the opens His arms to us and brings us into the fold.  Through this, we see adoption as one of the ultimate acts of love, for we are to be like Him, imitators of Christ (Phillipians 3:9-11 (NIV)).

 

Does this mean that each and every one of usust adopt a child and raise them? No. That would not be realistic and it would not be what He intended. But in a metaphorical sense,  we can adopt someone. Ephesians 4 says that some were called to evangelism, others to apostleship, others to teaching, and still others to be teachers. We should always be vigilant for the person that we can adopt into Christ's love. Whatever our calling is, bringing others to the Lord's grace should always be a consideration. We are in constant witness. Sometimes we witness through our words. More often, we witness through our actions. It is our humility, our acts of love, selflessness and patience that we witness the most.

 

Who can we adopt? What about that person in the cubicle next to you at work, who always seems so lonely. Would God's love fill her up? Have you brought the word to her? If not, why not? If not you, then who? If not now, then when? The screaming and abuse that you hear down the hall in your apartment, have you reported it, or do you turn a blind ear to it saying that it is none of your business? That homeless man on the street corner that you step over everyday. Have you brought him  tract, that might bring him to the Lord? Have you given him food to l his stomach? Have you taken him to the volunteer shelter so he could sleep on a bed for one night?

 

These are all examples of how we can adopt someone. We should try to "be like Christ". The Word of God was not meant for those who were healthy. It was meant for the sick and infirm. That was why Jesus spent so much time tending to the sick, healing them...and yes, offering forgiveness. Who around us is sick in spirit? Who near us infirm in the heart? Who has a broken soul just yearning to be made whole? Who can I adopt? Who can I lead to the Lord?

 

As for me, adoption is an institution that is dear to my heart. It gave me a life, a better life than I might have had in an orphanage, growing up without a family in Korea. It is something I am pulled to fulfilling with my (future) wife. My heart s pulled to it.

 

I can only close my eyes and step forth, having faith in the Lord and His plan for me.