David Leventhal

I’ve been thinking about my adoption lately. Not my adoption of sweet Abigail which was completed nearly three years ago. And not my current adoption of Joshua – which will hopefully be completed before the end of this year. No, I’ve been mulling over my own personal adoption into the family of God. It occurred to me a couple of weeks back that sometimes I have the tendency to view of my own adoption through the same lens as Abigail’s adoption. Here’s what I mean – we brought Abigail home at 16 months. She was young…she was innocent…she was absolutely adorable & she came to us willingly –as if she’d been in our family her whole life (don’t read this to imply that we didn’t have to work through some attachment issues when she got home). For all these reasons & more – our affection for her came pretty naturally.  And so sometimes when I think about the way the Lord has adopted me into his family it’s colored by my own personal experience with Abigail.

But Scripture doesn’t paint me with the same colors I’ve painted Abigail. I was not an orphan that was cute, innocent, adorable or willing. According to God’s word I was:

• Romans 3:
  • V. 9 – I was under sin
  • V. 11 – I had no righteousness, & was without understanding & certainly not seeking God.
  • V. 12 – I had turned aside & had become worthless.
• Romans 5:
  • V. 6 – I was weak
  • V. 8 – I was a sinner
  • V. 10 – I was an enemy
• Ephesians 2:
  • V. 1 – I was dead in my transgressions & sins
  • V. 2 – I was following the prince of the power of the air
  • V. 2 – I was a son of disobedience
  • V. 3 – I lived in the passions of my flesh, carrying out the desires of my body & mind
  • V. 3 – I was by nature a child of wrath
  • V. 5 – I was dead in my trespasses
• Ephesians 4:
  • V. 18 – I was darkened in my understanding
  • V. 18 – I was alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that was in me due to their hardness of my heart
  • V. 19 – I had become callous & have given myself up to sensuality & was greedy to practice every kind of impurity
  • V. 22 – I was corrupt through deceitful desires
• Colossians 1:
  • V. 21: I was alienated & hostile in mind, doing evil deeds
• Colossians 2:
  • V. 13 – I was dead in my trespasses

The reality is that I was the child with reactive attachment disorder. I was the child with fetal alcohol syndrome. I was overwhelmed with sensory integration issues. I was the child who living on the streets engaged in hurtful habits & reckless behavior. In fact, sometimes – more than I care to admit – I’m still that same child.  And yet…and yet – He still chose me, adopted me & made me His own. Right in the middle of my mess Scripture tells me that Christ died for me though I was helpless & ungodly (Romans 5:6). It assures me that God demonstrated His love for me that while I was STILL A SINNER Christ died for me (Romans 5:8). It comforts me with the knowledge that I was chosen before the foundation of the world to be adopted as a son through Jesus Christ – to experience redemption & forgiveness, to obtain an inheritance that will never fade & to be sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of my future inheritance (Ephesians 1:2-14).

This is the truth about my adoption & I will boast in God’s goodness & grace all day long.