This newest post is from Pastor Dave Marriott. He shares his heart beat of adopting a little one.
One of our greatest desires in the midst of this adoption journey is that God would allow it to be a “first-fruits,” to borrow a biblical term. As we interact with the lost (i.e. spiritual orphans) in these circumstances, we desire to see people adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ. Also, we are praying that God would use us to influence other Christians to be involved in orphan care.
Emiley has always been interested in adoption –– ever since childhood when she was exposed to the ministry of African missionaries, who cared for orphans as a part of their ministry. When we were first married, while Emiley was interested in pursuing adoption, I still viewed adoption as simply “good thing to do,” but not really something for us. At that time, to me, adoption was exclusively a “Plan B,” for those couples who could not have naturally-born children. This winter, however, as I was studying Scripture in preparation for the Christmas season, my heart was gripped by Galatians 4:4-5, which teaches that our spiritual adoption was God’s Plan A, which He accomplished at incredible cost through Christ at the climax of human history. That day the Lord began to work in my life, giving me a desire to adopt a child –– a physical act that mirrors a spiritual reality in a breathtaking way. When I shared what God was doing in my heart with Emiley, it took her about 5 seconds to agree!
We are sensitive to maintaining a proper view of the mission of the church, i.e. making disciples through the proclamation of the gospel. However, we want to be just as sensitive to being disciples who are obeying Christ in all things, including the Scriptural admonition to care for the fatherless. Quite simply, we want our hearts to beat to the rhythm of God’s, as He is the “Father of the fatherless.” We do not want to ignore the parts of the Bible that we find uncomfortable. At the same time, we do not want to give the impression to other Christians that international adoption, or even domestic adoption, is the “calling” of every Christian. However, can we honestly read James 1:27, which states, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” and conclude that God would have us do nothing about the 147 million fatherless in the world today?
Pray for us. We want to finish this process in a God-glorifying, church-strengthening, gospel-centered way. We do not want people to look at us and think, “What great people for adopting.” Not only am I convinced that our child will be a bigger blessing to us than we understand right now, I am also convinced that in and of ourselves, we are nothing. We also do not want people to simply see our adoption as merely a humanitarian act; we desire them to see an explicitly Christian act. This will only be evident if we continue to boldly open our mouths and speak of our spiritual adoption in Christ, which is the driving force behind what we are doing. Please pray for our perseverance and patience, for boldness in our witness, and for God’s provision for the remaining finances. God has provided in big ways. The total cost is about $30,000 and God has provided roughly 50-60% of our need.
http://faith4fatherless.blogspot.com/p/joining-us.html
