Monday, April 05, 2010

Adopted

Meeting the parents of your roommate isn't exactly what you do on Easter weekend, but despite the timing, the Harbaughs welcomed me into their home. Jana and I have been roommates for about eight months, and in that time frame I have developed a special friendship with her that could accurately be described as God ordained. In the same way, I believe this Easter weekend was a gift that God bestowed upon me.

We arrived in Wharton county around 11 pm on Friday night; Jana and I were both ready for bed, but I was really excited to be in the country and at home with her sweet parents. When I say sweet, it is not an exaggaration at all! I had already met Jana's parents and knew the effect they had on me, that is, the warmth I feel when they're around. Because you see....They really show the Love of Christ.

That special warmth was prevalent that friday night because when Jana's mother and father hugged me goodnight I felt as if they had adopted me as one of their own. Obviously, that is not a fact, but showers of grace filled those good night hugs, and afterwards when I was brushing my teeth, I couldn't help but weep. I do not intend to throw a pity party when I say this but one of the main reasons I was crying was because I said to myself, "this is what my family should have been like. This is what a father should have looked like, should have treated me like..." And that night the love of the Father revealed itself to me. It was something that I thought I had already experienced but I felt God say, "This is why people don't know me as a father. It was never my plan Michel, for you to be fatherless. So, when one of my servants hugs you, you feel strange. That strangeness that you don't know what to do with, is called grace." I thought about all the children who live in a broken home and how they will grow up to be fatherless, motherless, sister-less, brother-less...causing them to be estranged from knowing how a healthy family should function.

The cross was revealed to me once again.

He died. He gave me grace, something that had always been his will, yet because of sin, it had been blocked.

That night, I researched adoption and found this verse:

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised![a] Amen.


This was Paul expressing his love for his fellow Jews... imagine how much more the Love of God for anyone who accepts his death and his resurrection? We are his adopted children through Jesus Christ. I no longer need to be estranged from Love, and I know what Love is because He first loved me. He is my father, my mother, my sister,and my brother.

My message is mostly to those who have father wounds and those who have accepted the issue of broken families as a normal happening, but I tell you...
It should be strange to us.

When I left Jana's home I gained a true understanding of what family is, and I realized how different it was from my own, but oh how it captivated me! It was never God's plan for me to be fatherless and to cry at such a simple hug that should have been normal to me. It was never God's plan for us to live in Sin, and to be alienated from Love. Yet, there was grace through his redeeming blood, and through the spirit of adoption. I believe the opposite of the spirit of adoption is the spirit of fear, which i believe, is instilled by satan who does not want us to accept such love. I thank God for the spirit of Adoption, because without it, I think I would have gone mad.

And this is why the Harbaugh family impacted me so much, because they casted all fear in me through their loving weekend. And I hope that you can see how this relates to our world. That through our Love for one another we may cast out the fear many have towards an "estranged" Father.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love"

P.S There is so much more of this spirit of adoption, but I hope you get the picture....Love you all.

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