Daily Devotional For Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Good morning Southside! We are looking at what it means according to Scripture to follow Jesus. One of the main metaphors the Bible uses for God saving us is adoption. Audrey and I are fully aware of how international adoptions go. We went through 3 countries in the adoption process – Brazil, which shut down all adoptions after 3 years. That meant we lost all of our money to the adoption agency and to the countries we paid fees to such as the USA and Brazil. Then we switched to Guatemala, and after 4 years, they shut everything down. Then we switched to Bulgaria and on March 26, 2015, we brought our wonderful Emmie home with us. It took almost a decade to adopt.

So we understand adoption. When you are adopting, people unintentionally say things to you  without thinking about how their statement sounds. For example, here are a few below:

• “So, you’re adopting! You didn’t want to have one of your own?”
• “Adopting? Is something wrong with y’all physically?”
• “My aunt and uncle have 2 of their own children and then they adopted one.”
• “You’re adopting from another country? Are you against adopting American children?”

First, any child we adopt will be ours. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. To be honest, I do not want any child to have my DNA with a genetic bent towards alcoholism. Second, we tried and tried but never could conceive. Neither one of us were tested to see if either one of us was the reason. This did not matter to us because in Audrey’s family, she has 4 adopted cousins. Adoption seemed normal to her. But we sure did have fun trying. (LOL) Third, adopting a child from another country helps us fulfill God’s commands to care for the orphans. Adopting internationally is stressful and grueling. You have to prove to the US and another country that you are fit to be parents. Unlike other parents who conceive on their own in America, they do not have to prove they are fit to be good parents even if they aren’t.  They may abuse their child down the road. There are no background checks, no home studies, and no physicals you have to pass to prove you are physicall and emotionally fit to have a child naturally. 

When you have cleared every hurdle and are approved, you have to make two trips to that country and stay a week there. They want you to spend money. On this first trip you are introduced to your child. You are provided a translator, a driver and a social worker – all of which you have paid in your fees. You get to spend supervised time with your future child. The day after you arrive on your second trip, they hand your child over to you and walk away. This is because now legally, this is your child, not theirs. You are expected to stay a week and then you depart to come home. It is not uncommon for there to be a hiccup or hangup on either trip. We had one and it was fearful but God worked it all out. 

Our adoption has spiritual similarities. First, adoption always starts at the initiative of the parents. They have to do everything, pay all the costs whatever that is to adopt. While our daughter had been in and out of several orphanages and now was with a wonderful foster mom, she still had no parents to love her, raise her, and pour Christ into her. And the day Emmie was given to us she had no idea what to expect. In fact on the flight home, she looked out the window alot. I thought she was looking at the ocean and then land, but she was actually crying. She was leaving everything and everyone she had known the first 13 years of her life. She told us that first night in our home she stayed awake all night thinking we were going to come in and kill her. That shows how fearful she was. She did not know us. So, she could not trust us.

She didn’t know what was expected from us. It was a learning curve for all of us. She had never had anyone who provided for her every need, welfare, care, and life. Her foster mother did what she could, but as when Emmie was in the orphanages, she was one of several that had to be cared for there. So, what is my point? There  is something we often miss in our Christian faith. We often say, “When I gave Christ my life . . .” but in reality, it is Christ who gives us His life at salvation, not the other way. It is God our Father who takes the initiative to reach us, not us reach Him. 

As soon as sin entered the world, God already had a plan to make us His sons and daughters. Ephesians 1:5 says, “God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (NASB). The Bible says this in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (NASB). God did not wait for you and me to get our lives right first. He took the initiative first to help us get our lives right. While you and I were lying and dying in our sin, God was working to adopt us. I like how pastor and author David Platt puts it: 

“And the only way we can become part of the family of God is through a love entirely beyond our imagination and completely out of our control.Christianity does not begin with our pursuit of Christ, but with Christ’s pursuit of us. Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us” (Source: David Platt, Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live, Kindle, p. 29).

Francis Thompson wrote a poem in 1893 about how God pursues us. He called it “The Hound of Heaven.” It is a 182-line poem. The “hound” is a metaphor for God, and the “pursuit” is a metaphor for God’s constant, loving, and sometimes disciplinary pursuit of humanity. The poem states that even though humanity resists God, He intentionally still pursues us relentlessly. The Scriptural basis for this poem is Psalms 119:65-72. If you want to read this poem, you can at this link: The Hound of Heaven.

Assignment: Do you know anyone who has adopted a child? If you do, have you ever talked to them as to why they initiated the adoption process and the cost it was to them to do it? If not, take some time to do so. Call them up and talk to them. They will greatly appreciate you for doing this. Sometimes the only people who are interested in the adoption process are those who have done it. It will help you understand in a small way God’s intentionally to take the initiative to adopt us into His family.

Scripture To Meditate On: Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Thank You Lord that You took the initiative to approach me while I was a sinner in the shackles of sin. Thank You for giving me Your life. Help me to live my life as your adopted child to bring You glory until I stand before You one day. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly