Help Justin Taylor adopt

Being sick this past month and attending ETS has put me behind when it comes to staying up with articles on the web. But I noticed that this past November Justin Taylor wrote a blog post announcing that his family is now going through the process of their fourth adoption.Wow! How amazing!

If you would like to help financially please go to this page that facilitates this. I cannot encourage you enough to do so. Adoption is such a gift, both to the adopting parents and family, as well as the child in need of being adopted.

Here is what Justin had to say about their motivation in adopting:

God has graciously used the gift of adoption to build our family and to remind us of the beauty of our spiritual adoption in him. We are eager to receive more blessing by welcoming another baby into our home.

Many thanks for your kind consideration.

And if you are wondering why adoption is such a big deal for Christians, it’s because of the foundation of our faith.

After all, the church is an organic collection of individual orphans turned adopted children, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus promised his disciples that he would not leave them as orphans (John 14:8).

The reason Jesus was born, according to Galatians 4:4-8, is so that Jesus could redeem us (v. 4); and the reason he came to redeem us is so that God could adopt us as sons (v. 5).

The result is that the Father sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts so that we can cry “Abba, Father!” (v. 6).

Now that we are adopted sons instead of slaves in bondage, we have an eternal inheritance through God. It’s because of teaching like this that J. I. Packer writes:

“Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption. . . . If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

Because God is a Father to the fatherless and a protector of widows (Ps. 68:5), he commands his adopted children—the bride of Christ—”to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27). Adopting,  assisting with adoption, and foster care are some (though not the only) means of fulfilling this biblical vision and command.

Matthew Barrett (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at California Baptist University, as well as the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. He is the author and editor of several books, including Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration. You can read about Barrett’s other publications at matthewmbarrett.com.