I recently saw a video of a boy named Carter.* It was Christmas morning and he was at the home of the Kipharts.

Carter needed a family. The video shows them giving him a gift which included a letter. In it they told him that they were going to adopt him. 

The video is quite emotional. The happy-go-lucky vibe of Christmas morning gets very real very quickly as Carter reads the letter. He pauses as the announcement sinks in. He tears up with joy.

“Do you want us to adopt you?” he is asked. Through the tears he manages a few words: “Yes… Thank you very much.” A woman who appears to be his new mom comes over to comfort and hold him. His life has been forever changed.

He is given assurance. “We love you, buddy… Now you can stay here forever.”

It shows the power of adoption. Max Lucado says that there may be surprise pregnancies, but not surprise adoptions.** In other words, adoption is an intentional act of love which is the result of a lot of thought. It is the opposite of fickle.

In Ephesians 1:4-6 we learn that Christians have been adopted by God: “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

Just think about actual adoption. Does the adopted child feel loved right away? Perhaps. Or maybe it takes some time. Does the child feel instantly secure? In some cases, yes. But it’s possible that the child will need some time to feel stable and supported in their new home. Is the child instantly kicked out of the house if they have a disagreement with their parents or if they don’t understand everything about their new situation? No. It’s all a part of being in a family relationship.

This is a helpful way to think about our own adoption in Christ. You are loved. You are secure. You are not cast out simply because you have a bad day or don’t understand everything that is going on around you. It’s not an accident that God is called our Father—again, and again, and again, and again, and again… 

There may be surprise pregnancies, but not surprise adoptions. In Christ, God’s love for you is anything but haphazard. It is steadfast and sure. All glory to our heavenly Father, whose very arms are a fortress of assurance.

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Notes:

–*Posted on X (formerly Twitter), credited to “Storytrender.”
–**Max Lucado, Wild Grace (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012), 133.
–Bible quotes are from the NIV.