Despite the fact that I have posted mine as such, a theology of adoption does not need to be nine parts long. It is in fact, very simple. Why should we care about orphans?
1. Because God Does
2. Because God Says So
3. Because We Are Orphans Too
The God of the Bible is a God who cares passionately for the least of these. His Heart and Eyes are forever turned toward the poorest, the powerless, the passed over. He is the Father to the fatherless.(Psalm 68:5) He is a God who delights in rescuing the forlorn and the forgotten.
Because He is so passionate about caring for those who cannot fend for themselves, He repeatedly instructs His people to defend the cause of the orphan. There are more commands about caring for orphans than there are against murder. He wants believers to be aware of the needs of the neediest and to provide for them.
Spiritually, all humans are orphans. We live in a world that is broken, in which power is abused and circumstances are unpredictable. We live in fear, hopelessness, and bewilderment. And it breaks God’s heart. Because of His great love for us, He sacrificed Himself to bring us into His family, forever. The God we call Father is the same God who bled and died to fulfill His promise: “I will not leave you as orphans.”(John 14:18) If we seek to become more like Christ, then we must extend the same self-sacrificing love to orphans that He did.
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be [grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. --Philippians 2:1-8
I loved this post. You have always had a way of the simple summary that runs so deep.
ReplyDeleteHe took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sen me." ~ Mark 9:36,37
This was on Hollis' birth announcement :) Angie Vaughan