Why Adoption?

If I have been asked this once, I have been asked it a thousand times, Why adoption?  There isn't a simple answer to this question, there are a lot of deep, personal reasons, but I will try.  First of all, we don't have any issues with fertility.  Lisa has been interested in adoption for a while.  I on the other hand, thought we had a big enough family with 3 boys and couldn't see providing for another child.  Luckily, God had other ideas for us!  Almost 2 years ago, I decided to do an in-depth study of the book of James.  Little did I know, before I finished chapter one, I would go through a complete transformation.  James 1:27 states "Pure and undefiled religion is this, to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from this world."  Wow, what a revelation.  It doesn't say if you have the money, if you have the time, if you have the room...

Ok, so maybe I should start thinking about it.  So what else does scripture say about adoption?  Eph 1:5 says we were predestined "for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will".  Galations 4:4-7 reveals that we are co-heirs with Christ. The old testament is full of references that talk about how God cares for and protects the fatherless (Jer 5:28-29, Psalm 10:18, Ex 22:22-23, Psalm 68:5, etc).  As a Christian, it is clear that we are all adopted into Christ's family through His sacrifice on the cross and directed to care for the fatherless.  Does that mean that we are all called to adopt into our family? No, but it is clear that we are called to care for orphans, just as we are called to make disciples of all nations.  A great resource to determine how you can help is the book Orphanology by Tony Merida and Rick Morton.

So I don't think the question should be "Why adopt?", I think it should be "Why not adopt?" - Joel