“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:18
Layered on top of God’s birth and marriage pictures of His perfect love for us is another image—that of adoption. I understand the metaphor of being born again; after all, I was born and have seen many newborn babies. For 38 years of marriage, I have understood more clearly how God is our groom, and we are His bride. But the image of adoption to show Christ’s profound, unsearchable love hit deeply when my husband and I became adoptive parents.
His assurance to us of comfort through the Holy Spirit carried us through long years of waiting. And when that first baby was placed in our arms, our love was immediate and overflowing. We grasped in a new way what it means to be placed in the family of God, to be wanted and to belong, to be grafted into a new life that we hadn’t earned, to have our place in His family finalized and irreversible.
These facets of our life as believers in Jesus are made richer through the reality of adoption. Perhaps you know of an adoption story; let it point you to your heavenly Father who has not left you orphaned.
His assurance to us of comfort through the Holy Spirit carried us through long years of waiting. And when that first baby was placed in our arms, our love was immediate and overflowing. We grasped in a new way what it means to be placed in the family of God, to be wanted and to belong, to be grafted into a new life that we hadn’t earned, to have our place in His family finalized and irreversible.
These facets of our life as believers in Jesus are made richer through the reality of adoption. Perhaps you know of an adoption story; let it point you to your heavenly Father who has not left you orphaned.
Scripture Focus
John 14:15-21
Insight
FAVORITE BIBLICAL METAPHOR by Anchor editor Kathy Daane. She and her husband Kevin adopted their two children, newborn babies at the time and now aged 25 and 28. They’ll never stop being profoundly grateful to their children’s birth families.
Bible In A Year
- Numbers 27-28
- Psalm 75
- John 17