An excerpt from the book, ADOPTED FOR LIFE, by Russell Moore

Greg and I read the book, Adopted for Life, by Russell Moore, last summer.  We have since come to feel that it is a book that every Christian should read.  It is probably impossible to truly know Greg and I without knowing that we are very passionate about adoption.  But we weren't always passionate about adoption.  No, we were like many people who thought about adoption for our family...for the future.  But we wanted our "own" children first.  (BTW, the vast majority of people who "think" about adoption never actually adopt, and perhaps we would have been one of those couples who only "thought" about adoption.  But Praise the LORD, God had other plans).  I suppose I need to say that not everyone is called to adopt, and biological children are a blessing from the LORD - lest people misunderstand what I am saying.  However, we feel strongly that it is very sad that the Church, most of the time, when thinking about our adoption in Christ, never gets past the spiritual aspect to get to the missional aspect.  And many times Christians do not remotely get the spiritual impact of being ADOPTED into the family of God.  That's why we loved this book.  Al Mohler says about this book, "There are good books on adoption and good books on the gospel.  But until now, there has never been a book that puts the adoption of children so clearly within the context of the gospel of Christ." 

There are SO MANY excerpts that I would love to post, but this is the one Greg and I decided to post today:

"The Bible tells us that human families are reflective of an eternal fatherhood (Eph. 3:14-15).  We know, then, what human fatherhood ought to look like on the basis of how our Father God behaves towards us.  But the reverse is also true.  We see something of the way our God is fatherly toward us through our relationships with human fathers.  And so Jesus tells us that in our human father's provision and discipline we get a glimpse of God's active love for us (Matt. 7:9-11; Heb. 12:5-17).  The same truth is at work in adoption.

Adoption is, on the one hand, gospel.  In this, adoption tells us who we are as children of the Father.  Adoption as gospel tells us about our identity, our inheritance, and our mission as sons of God.  Adoption is also defined as mission.  In this, adoption tells us our purpose in this age as the people of Christ.  Missional adoption spurs us to join Christ in advocating for the helpless and the abandoned. 

As soon as you peer into the truth of the one aspect, you fall headlong into the truth of the other, and vice versa.  That's because it's the way the gospel is.  Jesus reconciles us to God and to each other.  As we love our God, we love our neighbor; as we love our neighbor, we love our God.  We believe Jesus in heavenly things - our adoption in Christ; so we follow Him in earthly things - the adoption of children.  Without the theological aspect, the emphasis on adoption too easily is seen as mere charity.  Without the missional aspect, the doctrine of adoption too easily is seen as mere metaphor."