The Day of My Adoption, and a process

The Day Of My Adoption,

and a process                                  

~ Ephesians 1:5; the beginning was being predestined.  The actual process of being adopted took place after both the predestination and calling. 

~ Galatians 4:5-7 & Romans 8:23:

It seems most appropriate to refer to ‘that day’ [ie.; the day of our personal salvation] as the day God adopted us, and not the day we ‘received Jesus’ as our savior.

~ I have wrestled a long time with the today’s usage of the words ‘received’ and ‘accepted’, when referring to my salvation. 

~ ‘Adopted’ is actually biblical (where I don’t know that the previous two terms are).

God called me to be His daughter, but it wasn’t at that point in time that I would have been considered redeemed.  The day that God choose to call me was well before I was born, well before I was even conceived; “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4c-6, ESV). 

         This verse tells me two things right away:

1)   Jesus wasn’t plan B to saving the human race (important fact to know).

2)   He was already planning on adopting me well before I was alive.

So in light of these verses, where was there ever any room for me to ‘receive’ or ‘accept’ Jesus as my savior?  It seems evident that the only reason I am saved/redeemed/adopted, is because of God’s glorious grace.  In accordance with His pleasure and will (that is how NIV translates “according to the purpose of his will”), I have been adopted – its all about Him! 

God predestined me to be adopted; the Father sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross and make a way for my adoption (and that of others who are also predestined); Jesus is the one who said ‘It is finished’ and He gave up His last breath; He called my name; He put with in me the Spirit to guide and direct me.  To sum it all up: He predestined, He called, He justified, He is sanctifying, and He will glorify myself with Him in heaven. (scripture references: Ephesians 1:4-7, Romans 6:19, 8:23,30)

There was a day when God called my name.  I don’t know what day that was, but I do know that I was a little girl.  I know that He had been wooing me for a little while, slowly winning my heart to Him (which now that I am an adult, I can look back and see that He fulfilled Romans 2:4, “the kindness of God leads you to repentance” [NASB]), until the day that my adoption took place. 

As a pre-teen and teenager the world looked enticing, and I started to play games with it, trying to turn my back to my first love: God.  However, I always knew that I was saved. 

Then came the day that God ‘got a hold of my attention again’.  The bible says that He is a jealous God.  The time had come, and He was bringing my heart back to His. 

So why is it so important to think of my salvation as adoption and not an acceptance of Jesus?  Well for many reasons, but here is just one of them.  Because I know I’ve been adopted, I am overwhelming grateful for God choosing me.  I know He didn’t choose me because of me, but because He wanted to; He has some purpose(s) in mind for how I would bring Him glory.  This is all extremely humbling and puts my perception of myself in the right place: I’m just a sinner saved by grace.  I am free to look at my salvation as a gift, completely and utterly underserved, because I did nothing to obtain it.  I know others would strongly disagree with me on that, but is this not the truth found in scripture?  Read it for yourself.

When I think of salvation, in light of these words that describe the process of having it [ie.; predestined, called, adopted], I’m lead to leave you with this final thought- in the form of a question:

Are you called?

Is God ‘wooing’ you?

If yes, what is holding you back?

Have you already been adopted? 

Are you overjoyed by this (because you should be!)?

Whether you are full of joy in light of this fact or not, thank him, right now, genuinely.  If you find yourself struggling to have genuine gratitude, ask Him to give that to you.  David did pray, “Return to me the joy of your salvation”…I pray this all the time too.  It’s ok to be honest with God and pray this for yourself. [Look at the verse in context; Psalms 51:10-12.  Pray through it for yourself]