Thoughts from a Recent Talk (Part 3)
"You are no longer strangers and aliens,
but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God..."
Ephesians 2:19
It is hard to believe that a little over seven years ago we became the legal parents of our four Ukrainian born children. It is most certainly a day we will never forget! Tony and I were questioned before the court both individually and together. There were questions like, "Why do you want to adopt?" or "Don't you know your quiet life is about to change?" Upon the completion of the interrogation the judge exited for deliberations with his fellow court officials to his office chambers. Meanwhile, we sat praying for favor as our nerves continued to settle. To our great joy, the judge returned, called us to rise, and then stated in his native language something to the effect, "It is the judgement of this court that these two adults be granted parental rights to these four children and have their names changed to reflect their new status."
(Pictured below: Our family in the court room following the judgment. The orphanage director is pictured in red. The prosecutor is pictured in black.)
(Pictured below: Our children dressed in their new clothes ready to depart the orphanage to travel to their new home.)
My parents, some friends, and our church family helped prepare our house for our arrival stateside. That required getting rid of some furniture and acquiring new furniture. What a blessing it was to come home to rooms ready to receive our four children! One family donated their two twin bed bedroom set for James' room. While, a Sunday School class donated funds to purchase a bunk bed with trundle along with bedding for our girls' room! It was tremendous! Another class purchased and stocked full a freezer in our garage. Grace upon grace!
Months later, we headed to enjoy a family vacation with Tony's side of the family. The kids had so much fun playing games, swimming, wrestling, and laughing together. The adults all left with full hearts. When we returned back home and began our nightly routine of tucking our kids into bed, our oldest looking over at the empty twin bed beside him then looked up at us to speak these words of broken English, "Me want a sun screened brother." Full hearts became melted hearts as we thought to ourselves, "Us too, buddy. Us too."
A year later we traveled to bring our youngest child home to us. There are many more stories I could include here but will save them for later. This August, we will celebrate being home from Ethiopia six years.
(Pictured below: That moment when our 'Eyasu - Yashua - Joshua' officially became a Merida = June 24, 2010. Great joy!)
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, buit on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."
Ephesians 2:19-22
If you are in Christ, your spiritual identity has changed. You are no longer strangers or aliens (2:19a). You are no longer hopeless or godless (2:12b). You are no longer dead in your sin (2:1). You are no longer sons of disobedience (2:2). You are no longer children of wrath (2:3). You are made alive in Christ, by grace through faith (2:4-9). This is amazing grace!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come... For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:17, 21
You identity change did not end there. Not only are we in Christ, but we also are members of one body (2:16a). We are fellow citizens with the saints (2:19). We are members of the household of God (19). We are members of the church. We, like it or not, belong to each other. We have been grafted into a purpose together as a family. We have this glorious new reality and privilege: to know God and to make him known (3:10)!
Our journey of growing our family through adoption has helped us in contemplating this glorious doctrine of adoption - God's adoption of us! Only the Lord would weave together a guy from Kentucky with a girl from Virginia who have children from Ukraine and Ethiopia older than they have been married into a beautiful tapestry of his grace?!. It is a microcosm of the even more amazing picture of the household of God. Though the romantic honeymoon period of being united together as a family may have passed, the story of how God has brought our family together is still something bigger than we could have imagined. As we experience moments of weakness, moments of sibling rivalry, sibling fatigue, or the basic challenges of a group of selfish individuals all living together under one roof, the fact remains - we are a family. Nothing can change that and we are glad. Together, we want to grow in the grace and knowledge of the One who has brought us together.
Friend, if you do not have the proper identity you will not have the right community. If you are in Christ and your identity has changed, remember whose you are. There are no solo, independent or stand alone Christians out there. We belong to each other. We are a family. We need each other and have been joined together to grow "into a holy temple in the Lord" (2:21). If you don't have a local church, go find one that preaches the Bible and join them. Remember: there is no perfect church. Every church is composed of broken, imperfect people who are to look to a holy, perfect, unconditionally loving God we get to call, "Abba! Father!"
We need God's grace and indwelling Spirit to help us live this out in a manner which is worthy of this identity change. Paul continues to instruct the saints who were in Ephesus in chapters 4 through 6 on how to live out their new identity.
May you be encouraged today in contemplation of this glorious gift of grace!
To be continued...
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