Adoption and the Gospel
“I’m. . .him.”
These two words came to me as I held my eldest son for the first time in a crowded nursery in downtown Louisville. A precious, tiny, red-faced little boy lay in my arms, completely helpless and needing us. He had not yet been named, as the card on his crib indicated by the acronym BUFA (Baby Up For Adoption). We had briefly had the honor of meeting his courageous birthmother just minutes before, but now it was just us and him. The raw emotion in that room was overwhelming. We had been praying for a child for many months, we had labored intensely over piles of adoption paperwork, attended weeks of meetings, done extensive reading regarding adoption, and even experienced the pain of a previous adoption falling-through. In our hearts we had set our love on our future child. Without knowing his/her race, medical needs, family background and so on, we had chosen to adopt the child God would send to us. He or she could not choose us, we had to make a way for him or her to come into our family. And as we held our precious new baby Josiah on September 9th, 2009, our Father God floored us with a real-life picture of His supernatural adoption of us. Like Josiah, we could not choose Him. He chose us. He set His perfect love on us from the beginning, as was His divine plan. There were no mounting adoption fees for Him to pay, no extensive mounds of paperwork. No, the price was infinitely higher. The blood of His Son, the perfect sacrifice to satisfy His wrath once and for all and make us right with Him. To adopt us into His family forever.
You see, when Christ-followers choose to adopt a child, the Lord inevitably teaches us about our own adoption into His family in a way we could never had understood before. Our son Josiah now had a name, his father’s name. He was a Bidwell now. He has all of the rights and privileges of a natural child and heir. Glory! This picture is so vivid and perfect isn’t it? We now bear the Lord’s name, we have His inheritance, we are His. . .and we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
“I’m. . .him.”
Just two months ago, we had the awesome opportunity to adopt again as we have added another little baby boy to our family. His name is Levi and we love him so! Our family consists of a husband, a wife, and three children. Our precious daughter came to us biologically as our firstborn, but we make no distinction among the three. They all bear our name and our love. They are all “ours.” We are so thankful for a community of believers like Hardin Baptist Church, who have welcomed and celebrated the recent addition of Levi and our growing family!
Maybe God is calling you to adopt. Maybe He’s not, but He wants you to see your adoption in Christ with new eyes today. Or maybe He is calling you to support someone else in their adoption journey. If He is calling you to do something, He will give you the grace to follow in obedience. Today, if you bear the name of Christ, give Him the glory He is due for your amazing adoption into His family! If you have not yet responded to God in faith but you sense the Lord drawing you to salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, do not delay! Any of the leadership of Hardin Baptist Church would be honored to speak to you about how you can be adopted into God’s family through a relationship with Christ.
The Bidwell Family
Scott, Monica, Kilee, Josiah and Levi