Beloved: Adoption

The Greatest Family Story Ever Told

There's something profoundly beautiful about the Christmas season that goes far deeper than twinkling lights and wrapped presents. Beneath the surface of our celebrations lies a story so magnificent, so unexpected, that it reframes everything we thought we knew about God's heart.

A Longing for Family

The Bible, when you step back and look at its grand narrative, tells one consistent story: God's unwavering desire for family. Not because He needs us, but because love—real, abundant love—naturally desires to be shared.

Think about it. The opening chapters of Genesis aren't just about creation; they're about a Father creating children to love, to walk with, to share His goodness with. God didn't create humanity out of loneliness or necessity. He created us from the overflow of who He is—a God who exists in eternal community as Father, Son, and Spirit.

But by Genesis chapter 3, the family fractures. What we call "the fall" isn't just humanity's rebellion; it's the breaking apart of God's family. By Genesis 6, the thoughts and intentions of humanity were "only evil all the time." Imagine the heartbreak of a Father watching His children choose destruction over relationship.

The Tower of Babel represents humanity's ultimate rejection—essentially filing for emancipation from God. And God's response? He lets them go. He scatters the nations and places them under other authorities. It's a divine disinheritance.

But here's where the story takes a breathtaking turn.

When God Refuses to Give Up

Even in the midst of total rebellion, God doesn't abandon His desire for family. Enter Abraham—a 75-year-old man living an unremarkable life. God calls him out and makes an extraordinary promise: "I will make you into a great nation, and through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed."

This is crucial. God wasn't abandoning everyone else to focus solely on Abraham's descendants. From the very beginning, the plan was always about bringing everyone back into the family. Israel was never meant to hoard God's love; they were meant to be a conduit of blessing to the entire world.

Of course, Israel's story is complicated. Moments of faithfulness punctuated by long seasons of faithlessness. Glimpses of devotion overshadowed by idolatry. It's a dysfunctional family story if there ever was one.

And yet, through it all, God remained faithful to His original desire: a family of people made for Himself.

The Arrival We've Been Waiting For

This brings us to Advent—a season of expectant waiting. When will the family be restored? When will the brokenness be healed? When will God's children truly become the family He intended?

The birth of Jesus is the answer the entire biblical story has been building toward. Galatians 4:4-5 puts it beautifully: "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

Read that again slowly. God sent His Son so that we might become sons and daughters.

Jesus isn't just a ticket out of hell or a moral teacher. He's the true Son who shows us what God's family looks like. He's the new and better Adam, the faithful Israel, the one who perfectly loves the Father and walks in complete obedience to Him.

And what does the Spirit do when He takes up residence in our hearts? He seals our adoption and moves us to cry out, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit doesn't perform parlor tricks; He fundamentally transforms our identity from slaves to children, from orphans to heirs.

A Love That Changes Everything

First John 3:1 captures the wonder of this reality: "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are."

The phrase "see what kind" carries an intensity of amazement—like saying, "What on earth kind of love is this?" It's not stingy or begrudging. God doesn't love us just enough to get by. He lavishes His love upon us extravagantly.

We've minimized the gospel into mere sin management or fire insurance. But the story is so much bigger. Yes, God forgives us, but that forgiveness opens the door to something far greater: being called children of God. Not servants. Not distant subjects. Children with full rights, privileges, and inheritance.

John 1:12 tells us that to all who received Jesus, "he gave the right to become children of God." The word "gave" here means He granted us the legal standing, the authority, the power to take God's name upon ourselves.

You can't make yourself God's child. Only God can do that. And that's exactly what He accomplished by sending Jesus.

The Family Business

Romans 8 reminds us that when we become children, we also become heirs—fellow heirs with Christ. But there's a catch: "provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

When you join the family, you join the family business. And the family business is reconciliation through sacrificial service. There's a cost to following Jesus. He invites us to pick up our cross and join Him in the work of love, which is always the work of suffering.

But here's the beautiful truth: we're not alone in this work. We're part of a family—a family formed not by blood or ethnicity or morality, but by faith. Galatians 3:28 declares, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

The Invitation Still Stands

Christmas is fundamentally an invitation. The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is God's invitation to every single person: Come home. There's a place for you at the table. You're not a servant; you're a son, a daughter. You belong.

You may feel like your family is broken or dysfunctional. Welcome to planet Earth. But God is in the business of building families in the most strange, unpredictable, and beautiful ways.

The truth you need to know this Advent season is this: You, in all your glory and in spite of all your shame, are totally, deeply, and radically loved by God. He sent Jesus on a mission of redemption because He loves you at your worst.

When you receive that love, you're changed—really changed. There's a legal declaration over your life: adopted, beloved, family.

John 3:16-17 says it all: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

This is the greatest family story ever told. And you're invited to be part of it.