Throughout this process I reflected on my own adoption by God. This young Chinese child who we now refer to as C.J. does not know that he lives in a desperate place. He does not realize he was abandoned, alone, malnourished and starved for true love and security. He is unaware of the work, time, money, sacrifice, tears, prayers, paperwork and red tape that occurred so that he could be a part of our family. Yet, God had a plan in mind to save this little guy and spare his life, likely for eternity. God did the same thing for me, and so much more. If we do not have Jesus we are orphans without much life. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12) Just as C.J. is clueless of his desperate situation, so was I before I received Jesus into my life. (Ephesians 2:1-3) C.J. cannot will his way out of that orphanage. He is stuck, not really belonging to anybody until someone actually rescues him. He cannot work his way through government red tape to free himself. He needed a rescuer….someone to set him free from the desperate, often hopeless life in his orphanage. He needed someone to do all of the work for him. Then, he could just rest in the arms of the rescuer. The same is true with me. I needed a rescuer. I realized that I could not rescue myself from sin and be good enough to stand face to face before God. Just like C.J., I needed a Rescuer… Someone who had done all of the things necessary to pay the dept that I owed for my sin. I learned that I needed to trust the work of my rescuer, Jesus Christ, and rest in His sacrifice. (Romans 6:23) When I believed, I became adopted through Jesus Christ, as God’s daughter. Ephesians 1:5 says, “In love, God predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” C.J. could not satisfy the demands of the laws to become our son. We took the initiative and did it all. Further, he has not done anything to earn or deserve our love. We just love him! We want him to be our son, so we have done whatever it took to make him our son. So, too, God wanted us to be His sons and daughters through Christ and He took the initiative to do everything to pay for our sin. Jesus left heaven at just the perfect time and came to earth. He packed His “travel bags”, leaving behind all his glory, to become like us and walk among us. He made major sacrifices to adopt us. The “fees” he paid, cost Him everything, His very life. We did not do anything to earn Jesus’ love. He is love and because of that love, He opened His life and eternal home to us. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:5 – Romans 8:14-17, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘ABBA, Father’. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” – Ephesians 1:3-8a, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just 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 to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will , to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on 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 on us.” – Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a women, born under the Law, so that he might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘ABBA, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” Matthew 25:40 (NIV)