Though you are God’s adopted child, do you act like a spiritual orphan?

Imagine yourself being an orphan, nine-years-old, living on the streets of some third-world country. You never knew your father, and your mother died when you were six. No one wanted you, and you had nowhere to go but the streets. You beg. You eat from garbage cans. You steal.

But on one astonishing day, when you reach your beggarly hand to a well-dressed businessman, he smiles, gives you $5, and says, “I want to do more than this for you. I’ve seen you in the streets many times as I go to work, and I’ve begun to like you. I want to help you. In fact, I want to adopt you as my son.”

That very hour he takes you home to his estate. He orders his staff to clean you up, get you some clothes, and feed you well. He assigns you a room where three other adopted children stay. And he tells his assistant to begin the paperwork for legal adoption. A short time later it’s official. The wealthy man is your father; you are his son; you have a new name.

You quickly discover that he is a good man. He is a kind and gentle and hugs you often. Regularly, again and again because he has adopted other orphan children and knows how much they need to hear it, he tells you, “I truly love you. I will provide well for you. You have nothing to fear as long as you are in my house. You are safe. You are secure. And I will train you to be a good, strong, and mature person. I will give you the very best education. Always remember that I truly love you.”

You are God’s adopted child

Through your faith in Jesus Christ, this is what your heavenly Father has done for you. To know how much God loves you, it is vital that you know he is your Father, but more specifically, you need to remember he is your adopted Father. Adopting love is purely voluntary love. An adopted child is chosen. An adopted child is wanted, unlike some birth children who feel unwanted. An adopted child has a father who wants a relationship, wants to be together, wants to provide and protect and train—a father who dearly wants to be a father and dearly yearns to have a son or daughter.

1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

Ephesians 1:5 says, “He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

When God’s adopted child feels like an orphan

Imagine once again that you are this adopted child. You find something unexpected happening in your heart. Despite all that your new father has done and promised, you often find yourself afraid. For no reason, you distrust your father. You hoard food in your dresser. You disobey your father’s orders. You complain about the food served in the house and refuse to do your school work. When your father disciplines you, you lay in bed at night and think about running away from home to live once again on the streets.

An orphan spirit can linger in an adopted child. This is what happened to the people of Israel, whom God called his son, when he delivered them from Egypt. They had felt like orphaned street children in Egypt, and even after God set them free and pledged his love and care, they continued to feel and act like orphans. They did not trust their heavenly Father, nor did they obey him. They grumbled and complained and talked of returning to Egypt. They refused to enter the Promised Land. They never get over their orphan spirit.

God’s adopted child receives many assurances

Christians can have an orphan spirit. Our Father, in adopting love, reassures us again and again in Scripture of his commitment to love, provide for, protect, train and educate us.

Paul writes, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Peter urges you to cast “all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

God says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

Jesus said, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29).

The Lord repeats these promises again and again and again because he knows that orphans need to hear it. God’s children fall easily into an orphan spirit: afraid, insecure, distrustful of their Father, complaining about their circumstances, disobedient and suspicious toward his good commands.

Our adopted Father, who chose to love us, keeps reassuring us: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3).

Paul writes: “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).

You are no longer an orphan. A good, kind, and faithful God has voluntarily adopted you. He wants to be a Father, and he wants you as his son or daughter forever. He wants this father-child relationship. He delights to provide for, protect, and train you. He is absolutely trustworthy. You can rely on him always to work for your highest good and his highest purposes.