What are your motives for adopting? In the last post, I shared excerpts from Kristin Swick Wong’s book, Carried Safely Home, in which she worked through whether she was adopting for altruistic or selfish reasons. She writes:

We adopted children because God commands that we care for the poor. And we adopted children because these two boys were grafted into our hearts, because we loved them and had to pursue them, because our family would not be complete without them. We adopted children to obey the Lord by caring for orphans. And we adopted children because it brings great blessing to our family.

Kristin goes on to explain that the Bible links our care for the poor with our worship of God. “God insists that those who want to worship him must provide justice for orphans and other vulnerable people.”

One of the extraordinary qualities of the Bible is what it reveals about the ways God intervenes for people. Throughout the Scriptures, we see God entering the world to care for specific people, often the poor…in Jesus we see God even made into a man who walked on earth, physically touching the lonely, poor, orphaned, and sick. In him, we have the ultimate picture of God entering into the vulnerability and poverty of his people.

One of the surprising joys of her adoption journey, writes Kristin, has been discovering how adoption fuels her worship. God “is an adoptive Father, redeeming his children from desperate circumstances. He sets his love on people who are far from him and creates beauty and love out of brokenness.”

God invites us to participate in his work of mercy on behalf of the oppressed, the hungry, the vulnerable, and the fatherless, writes Kristin. Through adoption, “we draw near to the compassion, redemption, and love that have their source in him. Through adoption, we are drawn into awe and love for God.”

Other posts in this series:

In a Perfect World, Adoption Wouldn’t Exist

Kristin Wong’s Website with a Biblical Perspective on Adoption

The “Realness” of Adoptive Families

Examining Your Motives for Adopting