Gotcha!

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Ephesians 1:5

Gotcha Day… it’s a day that parents celebrate the day they adopted or gained custody of their children. Some dear friends of mine celebrate their “Gotcha Day” with their two children, both adopted from Russia some 20 years ago. They usually take a day trip and do something fun as a family. I love to hear about what they choose to do each year, and I never grow tired of hearing the adoption story itself. My friends traveled to Russia to bring home their two little ones with suitcases full of various sized clothing and shoes (they had no idea what size the children would wear) and over the counter meds, traveled hours and took all manner of conveyances to reach these two little ones only to realize that both children had chicken pox… a far more dangerous problem in an understaffed, overcrowded Russian orphanage than it is in America. The story has a ton of twists and turns and I could listen to it being told over and over. The emotional, physical, and financial price this couple paid to bring home and parent these two little ones is amazing.

As Christians, we have our own “Gotcha Day.” Most of us know the day and place of our salvation. Mine was the Monday of Revival before my freshman year in high school. That day, I was adopted by my Heavenly Father, and I will forever be grateful. Not everyone can pinpoint the exact date, but in my experience, they can remember the moment.

We celebrate birthdays, we celebrate anniversaries, but to me, this is the most important moment of my life. I moved from death into life, darkness into light, and my eternal destination was secured. How can I not celebrate it?

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Romans 8:15 I love this verse! We don’t worship some distant God, we don’t show obeisance to some lifeless statue, we don’t follow an archaic set of rules to earn our passage to heaven! We simply surrender ourselves to the God who came down and gave Himself for us. He seeks us! He desires relationship with us! We just have to understand that and fully surrender ourselves to His Lordship. Once we have, we become children of God, and are privileged to call on Him as we would our earthly father.

It occurred to me that perhaps God celebrates our Gotcha Day with the same joy and remembrance that my friends do with their children. All throughout scripture we see God instructing us to remember His works. He reminded the Israelites of all He brought them through, Christ instructed us to continually remember His sacrifice with our observation of the Lord’s Supper. Since we are created in the very image of God, it stands to reason that he is instructing us to behave in a way similar to His nature.

Much like my friends, God, Himself, sacrificed a great deal to bring us into His family. His only son took on the form of man, lived a perfect life, and took on the punishment for our sins in order to pay the price for our failures. He did it all willingly and lovingly, just for me, just for you. Do you have a Gotcha Day? A day when you were adopted into the family of God? It’s not terribly hard, it just requires surrendering yourself to His leadership and love… and it is so so very worth it.