On the rainy side of the island of Puerto Rico, with tropical plants hanging over the winding roads like a canopy, our fifteen-passenger van went barrelling down the path like a bull in Pamplona, every turn leading us onto an ever-narrower road. We dodged the cars from incoming traffic, praying we would both fit and avoid a head-on collision.
A sudden turn into a concrete-walled compound revealed a building with colorful signs, “Adoptando,” “Cree,” and “Send Relief Ministry Center.”
This facility houses fourteen children (currently), cared for by pastors and staff who create an environment of family for these children whose families refuse to care for them—yet some of their parents also refuse to relinquish their parental rights and give these kids up for adoption.
The theme at the orphanage is “Adoption” from Ephesians 1:5, “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”
The staff hopes and prays that each child will eventually get adopted into a loving forever home, but for the time the children spend here, they treat them as part of a big family. The staff cannot control whether a child qualifies for adoption or not; they cannot even control whether a child gets to stay at their facility or for how long, but while they have the children in their care, they serve them in Jesus’s love daily.
Our visit to this orphanage made me think about how we, as believers in Christ, can sometimes be like those parents, clinging to our own rights or fighting to preserve our interests, when we should instead be like children who are adopted by our Heavenly Father, able to fully trust that he is looking out for us and will meet all our needs.
God has adopted us; he has accomplished it and sealed us as his children. But what do we cling to? What rights do we refuse to relinquish in our lives and our hearts?
What do you currently grasp onto for control in your life instead of letting your Heavenly Father take care of it?
Your reputation at work? The approval of others? Your child’s grades or behavior?
Write down as many things as you can think of that you need to hand over to God, and then pray to let them go.
Read and meditate over this passage as you pray:
Ephesians 1:3-14 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Thought of the day:
We can walk confidently as God's sons and daughters, as we have been adopted into his family.
Prayer:
God, help me remember that I am part of your family and walk in confidence as your child. Help me surrender the things weighing me down and live in your freedom.