MOPS Devotional: Adoption

I go to a MOPS meeting on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month, and am in charge of devotions for this year, so on those Thursdays I'll be posting here what I say there.

Back in August, on The 700 Club, Pat Roberston said, in response to a woman’s concern that her boyfriend doesn’t accept her three adopted daughters, that:

"A man doesn't want to take on the United Nations, and a woman has all these various children, blended family, what is it – you don't know what problems there are. I'm serious. I've got a dear friend, an adopted son, a little kid from an orphanage down in Columbia. Child had brain damage, grew up weird. And you just never know what's been done to a child before you get that child. What kind of sexual abuse has been, what kind of cruelty, what kind of food deprivation, etc. etc." the televangelist said.  Robertson continued: "You don't have to take on somebody else's problems. You really don't. You can help people – we administer to orphans all over the world, we love helping people. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to take all the orphans around the world into my home.

Now, I don’t have any adopted children, but when I heard about this and watched the video, I was shocked.  I didn’t understand how a Christian could think adoption was something to dismiss so easily.  I can understand not personally feeling called to do it, but to basically tell that woman that she should expect men to feel that way was wrong.  What I think he should have said was “you know, if he doesn’t want to join in caring for these children with you, it’s his loss, and it would be better to find someone who will.  But even if you don’t find someone who will, what you are doing is amazing and great and I commend you for it.”

Here’s why.

The thing is, as Christians, we are all adopted into God’s family.  We hear that over and over again in the New Testament:

Matthew 3:9; Romans 8:15-17; Romans 8:23-25; Romans 9:4-5; Galatians 4:1-7 and

Ephesians 1:5   ⁵ He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Pat Robertson was right about one thing.  When he said that you never know what’s been done to a child before you get that child, he was right.  You never know what has been done to any of us before we come to find new life as followers of Jesus.  Everyone has some kind of baggage.  Everyone has been hurt and needs healing and unconditional love. 

I know that I am glad that God doesn’t have Pat Robertson’s attitude towards being so dismissive about taking children in and caring for them. 

As I said, I don’t have any adopted children, but I know some of you do or are maybe planning on it.  And I commend you for it.  It is a wonderful thing to open your heart and let others in and care for them no matter what their background. 

There’s a phrase from Proverbs 31 that means “woman of valor”; in Hebrew it is eshet chayil.  It is used in Judaism when a woman does something noteworthy.  Those of you who are adoptive moms or who are becoming adoptive moms, you all deserve to hear “Eshet Chayil!”