The Love of God in Adoption
I am convinced that as Christians grow in their understanding and experience of God’s love for them as adopted children, then passion for adopting children and visiting orphans in their affliction (James 1:27) will increase within the church. This is one main reason that Carolina Hope cares so much about communicating the truth of God’s love in adoption. So, to the end that we will grow in our understanding and experience of God’s love, consider this excellent J.I. Packer quotation:
“God receives us as sons, and loves us with the same steadfast affection with which He eternally loves His beloved only-begotten. There are no distinctions of affection in the divine family. We are all loved just as fully as Jesus is loved. It is like a fairy story—the reigning monarch adopts waifs and strays to make princes of them—but, praise God, it is not a fairy story: it is hard and solid fact, founded on the bedrock of free and sovereign grace. This, and nothing less than this, is what adoption means. No wonder that John cries, ‘Behold, what manner of love…!’ When once you understand adoption, your heart will cry the same” (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 196).
:: posted by dan ::