Well, just when we thought we had made more than enough copies of every document known to man, we now have to do it again for our dossier that is sent to the Thai Government. Now I know what many have said in the past regarding how preparing adoption documents can feel like an invasion of privacy. They must know that this process makes you feel like a secret agent, i.e. "James Bond," so they give it a fancy French name like "dossier."
Even in the midst of all this jumping over hurdles, through hoops, and a dash around a running track, I know deeply that this is the direction God has for us. We are very blessed and privileged that the Lord trusts us to provide a home for a child that has been in an orphanage. We are well aware that times won't always be easy and that tears may come. However, our Lord Jesus adopted us as His children, not through anything that we could possibly accomplish on our own or any effort on our part whatsoever, but through what is a FREE GIFT to as many as will ask Jesus for that gift. I've been reading a book lately that describes one of the many very popular religions in our world that seems to think that we need to do endless "works" to earn God's favor and to be a child of God in a Celestial Kingdom. However, that is emphatically wrong! "Good works" are the result of a relationship with Jesus Christ due to our love for Him and His sacrifice for us. He provides the desire to serve Him by serving others through our works after salvation, not before. We should never put the "cart before the horse" and think that we can earn any of God's favor by works, including proselytizing a "false Jesus" or a "false Gospel." In "II Corinthians 11:4," the apostle Paul warns of those that preach "another Jesus." Believing in a counterfeit Jesus who preaches a counterfeit Gospel of works results in a counterfeit salvation that sadly will yield eternal separation from God. I shed tears last night thinking of all of those souls in our world that create a religion as their attempt to reach God when God has already provided a way nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus died to pay for our sins that we could never wash clean in any attempt to reach Him. All we need to do is to accept that FREE GIFT to be adopted into His family for all eternity and the sacrifice of His blood will wash those sins away and make us "white as snow." Unlike the process to adopt a child internationally where it seems like participating in an Olympic decathlon, adoption into the family of God doesn't include extra documents, books, or endless "works" to earn salvation.
Through this adoption of "Penny" or any other child in the future we hope to show our deep love for Jesus Christ and a small sense of being adopted unconditionally into a "forever family" to our adopted child. We have decided to adopt even with all of the invasion of privacy and "rigamarole" because our Lord Jesus paid the ultimate, incomprehensible price to adopt us. All we need to do is ask Him to change us from the inside and adopt our souls for all eternity. Praise God!
With much love,
Jay
No comments:
Post a Comment