Are you put back? Put off even??? You should be!!! Don't live like this! This is the absolutely wrong way to look at life. It's how the devil wants us to look at life.
I was thinking the other day about how many times we go about our lives mistaking our will for God's true will. How often are our thoughts overwhelmed by our own wants and desires, which can make us unable to differentiate our own "small voice" and God's. Sometimes we can even "feel led" to do something, only later to realize that it was our own ideas, not God's will.
One of the main things that I have found when thinking about this dilemma, is to think, "is this desire biblical?" I like to consult the actual Philippians 4:8 to properly answer this question.
"Finally, Brother and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."
If I can read this verse and answer "Yes" to all of the qualities mentioned, then I ask one last thing. I always try to ask myself if this is just something that has been invading my mind, or if this is something that God has placed on my heart.
One thing that I had to really think about in this way recently, is adoption. I feel like everywhere I turn lately someone is talking about adoption. There are conferences, seminars, pamphlets, and signs. I had been thinking about adoption a lot because of all of the attention in the Christian community. One lady said it this way, "it's the cool thing to do nowadays. Adoption is the new "it" thing it seems, especially within the church." I agree with her. Though I think adoption is a wonderful thing, perfectly illustrated in the Bible, I think that many people go into it because "it's the cool thing to do."
(I want to make it perfectly clear, before I go on, that some things, like adoption, can be done selfishly and still help someone. I strongly believe, though, that God should be the one to give you the conviction for adoption, not society, because when the fad passes, you don't want to have any doubts about what you did.)
I very much admire those that are convicted to adopt. As I've said before, the Bible is the perfect illustration of adoption. God has "adopted" each and every believer as his own sons and daughters. He didn't have to, and he had to sacrifice a lot more than a couple thousand dollar. He sacrificed his own Son so that we could be adopted by him, and live with him for all of eternity.
As for me, I think that when I've thought about adoption, I mainly thought about being able to give a child a home. What has stopped me, at least for now, is the cost. For us, in this stage of our lives, a minimum of $30,000 is a lot of money, money that we don't have just laying around. When I think of how concerned I am with the money aspect of it, that's when I realise that I'm not ready. If I went with just that verse, I would say "Yes, of course it's all those things!" In reality, it would be driven by a desire to please and stifled by uncertainty about money. The concern for the amount of money it would cost is what makes me feel like it is not right, at least not now, for us.
I've heard it said about tattoos that if you don't know what you want to get, you aren't ready. I like to look at other things in life this way too. When looking at houses, if I can't look at a house and know what I would do and how I would live in it, it's not right for me. If I can't look at adoption and know, without a doubt in my mind, that I would be able to love that child with all of my heart, as much a as biological child, never thinking, "you aren't mine", then I'm not ready.
I admire, as I said before, people who go through the adoption process. I hope that one day, God might mold my heart in such a way that I might adopt, or have a part in a child's life, who is not my own, in such a way to impact them for Christ.
God knows my heart, and He knows yours! Let Him guide you. Live your live by Philippians 4:8, the biblical version, God's holy word!
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