Some Insight Into Applying the Doctrine of Adoption

     I was adopted from South Korea and arrived in the United States at six and one-half months old.  I usually don’t make a habit of telling people I’m adopted - I don't think most adopted people do.  As a matter of fact, it usually takes at least a good six months after a person has met me before they find out.  Sometimes people find out I’m adopted after meeting my parents or a relative, sometimes they find out through a friend of mine, and sometimes they find out after asking,“Sadler? - what nationality is Sadler?”

    After people find out I’m adopted, I get mixed reactions.  Most of the time people pause as if they’re wondering how to resume the conversation and then proceed by asking me how old I was when I was adopted or if I have any siblings, sometimes people comment on how cool it is and then switch topics, but sometimes the person who learns I was adopted is a Christian, and when Christians find out I’m adopted, they tend to react differently.      

    After a Christian discovers I was adopted I generally receive something along the lines of, “Man, being adopted you must have some great insight into the doctrine of adoption.  It must be really personal to you.  You must be really able to see how gracious God was in adopting us as Christians”  I usually respond with a simple, “Yea,” but the truth is, I should make it a habit of quickly following up my, “Yea,” with a “...but no”. 

    I do have insight into the doctrine of adoption, but it’s not what I think most Christians expect.  I think most Christians expect I would have a great or more extreme gratitude and love for God because of my having been adopted, but the truth is, I don’t know what it is to be adopted.  I don’t know what it is to be adopted and that is my insight into the doctrine of adoption.

    I have spent most of my life without ever considering the fact that I was adopted.  I don’t remember ever waking up and thinking to myself, “I’m adopted,”.  I never got the sense that my parents were waiting for the gratitude that was due them for the great service they performed for me.  The only time they spent telling me I was adopted was when I was very young.  And they didn’t tell me I was adopted to make sure that I would never forget it; they told me I was adopted to help me understand who I was and to keep me from feeling like I was anything less than their child.  In the same way, I don’t think God tells us we are adopted so that we’ll never forget it, or so that we’ll never stop thanking Him for it - this is not to say that gratitude over the fact that God has adopted us is not a proper response - but I can’t imagine daily thanking my parents for adopting me.      

     You’d be hard pressed to find a biological child who goes up to his parents and says, “Thank you for giving birth to me,” but every-once-and-awhile, you might hear him tell his parents, “Thank you for feeding me.  Thank you for clothing me.  Thank you for being patient with me.  Thank you for teaching me”  These are the things that biological parents desire thanks for from their children, and I would submit, they are the same for both the parents of physically adopted children and the Father of spiritually adopted children.    

    Loving parents of adopted children are not looking or waiting for their child to thank them for their sacrifice.  If I made it a point to daily thank my parents for adopting me, they’d probably pull me aside and ask, “Why do you keep bringing up the fact that you’re adopted.  Is everything ok?  Do you feel like you have to thank us for adopting you?”  Instead, like the parents of biological children, God desires to see gratitude for what He’s given, namely Himself, and what He’s done.       

     Yes! - be thankful that God has adopted you, but don’t let that be your focus.  Instead, let the fact that you are adopted remind you that He is your Father and give thanks for that.  Be thankful that He clothes you, feeds you, teaches you, guides and directs you, and most important and precious of all, be thankful He has given you His Son, Jesus.

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Some weaknesses of this post: It does not address the fact that we as adopted sons were rebellious enemies when adopted.  Nor does it address the experience of one adopted at an older age.