We knew that there would be risk involved in saying yes to adoption. We knew we’d risk our emotions & our finances on this one child when we chose adoption as a way to grow our family. We knew there would be a chance this child’s mother would change her mind and choose to parent after all. And though we would celebrate her choice, we would also grieve yet another loss of a child hoped for. Still, we say yes.
We say yes because there’s a beautiful mother who has been dealt a not-so-beautiful hand, yet she’s still courageously choosing life and a new beginning for her unborn child. We say yes because the child who’s innocently growing within that mother’s womb is made for love. We say yes because that’s what love does. We say yes because we’ve seen a love that risked it all, and so we choose a risky love, too.
In Jesus, we see a man who was unjustly mocked, pierced and ripped to shreds so that we can be healed and made whole. We see a man who hung on a cross until He breathed His last, dying like a criminal so that we can be free. He poured out His life so that we can truly live. His love held nothing back. He risked it all with us as the joy set before Him.
This beautiful man counted the cost of His sacrifice before saying yes to the cross. He knew the pain of His death would be agonizing, and He knew there would be people who would not receive the great gift of life that He would purchase with His own. He knew there would be people who would reject eternal relationship with Him. He knew people would seek to find freedom, joy and peace apart from Him. He counted the cost. Still, He said yes.
Hebrews 12:2 says, “…Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame…” Joy was His motivation – the joy of our glorious forever communion with Him. When Jesus died, the curtain that separated people from entering the holy presence of God was torn in two, right down the middle. The work of the cross destroyed separation from our Father. And now for those who are in Christ, absolutely nothing can separate us from this extravagant love of God. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we can be adopted into the family of God. John 1:12 says, “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” Our adoption into sonship is possible because of the risky yes that Jesus made.
Because we know what it is like to be adopted into the Father’s forever family, we are willing to risk our yes on this one child. As we navigate our many emotional responses to living life right in the middle of that risky yes, we steadily come back again and again to this Champion of ours. He’s walked with us through the darkest valleys of life before, and we know it is His joy to be with us throughout the journey of our heart’s “yes” to adopt. As a couple good friends have said to me recently, “He writes good stories.” We can trust this Author even if we don’t know what will unfold in the next chapter. All we know is that He’ll be there waiting for us to join Him. So with all of our trust, we choose to enter into another chapter – one that will be full of Jesus.
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