Jeremy has a must-read post on adoption motives:
It would seem nearly impossible for one to make the act of rescuing an orphan sinful. However, as someone recently thrust into the process, I have become well aware that adopting offers a myriad of opportunities for sinful behavior. I have even seen adopting Christians forget about the person they are rescuing because they are only concerned with how the process is affecting them at a given moment of delay or difficulty. Blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, what should inherently mean good for another is devoted to the altar of self. Feeling the natural tendency of my own heart, I have had to pray constantly, “Lord save me from turning the adoption of two Ethiopian orphans into an act of self-serving wicked idolatry.
2 comments:
I agree with most of what he is saying here, though I take issue with his use of the word "rescue." We are not rescuing these children, God has planned and designed their lives, they are not there by mistake. If we have a Rescuer, it is Jesus Christ, and we are all in the same boat in our need for Him. We need these children in our lives just as much or more than they need us.
Shadley,
Yes, God is certainly sovereign in all situations, but we are also responsible to pursue justice. Would we not say that taking a child out of a horrible living situation in any context is a type of rescue?
You are touching on the mystery of sovereignty and human responsibility. Which we both know if a huge subject, but I think it's wise to emphasize both.
In terms of "needing" them, what I think you mean is "we need to be pursuing acts of justice in the world" as opposed to the picture of neediness that is presented in the movie Juno. Is that right?
z
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