A Family Resemblance

Last Saturday after Caleb was done with his baseball evaluations I let the boys play on the church playground. At first I didn’t see anyone else I knew to talk to so I decided to watch the boys more from a distance and see how they did without me. I sat down on a bench a bit away from the playground itself. After a few minutes a couple of ladies started walking away from the playground, and I could hear them talking about how cute a certain little boy was. Then one of them said, “His name is Malachi.” As they passed by they casually looked toward me as I happened to be in their line of sight. I don’t think they knew I was the mom of the child they were just discussing, after all there isn’t any family resemblance. It made me feel good to hear others talking nicely about my precious little boy, and at the same time it was interesting to think about the fact that no matter how strong the emotional connections we have, there aren’t any biological connections to tie us to each other, nothing that would ever make people think he was my child without seeing our interaction.

On the way home later that day I passed a church sign that read, “A child of the King should bear a family resemblance.” It was interesting, especially in light of what I had just been thinking on the playground. We have 3 children who are all 3 different races from 3 different countries, only 1 of which is our biological child. Future adoptions will probably only add to the beautiful rainbow within our family. With such a mix as that can there possibly be any family resemblance among us? I hope so. I hope people are able to see our family as a beautiful representation of the miracle of adoption, of the love that binds our children to us far more strongly than genetics. I hope we are able to pass our values and morals on to our children, that they will choose to be men and women of God, and that they will seek to live a righteous life following His Word. I hope we are able to teach all of our children, biological and adopted, of God’s love for us, of his ADOPTION of us (“He predestined us to be ADOPTED as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” -Ephesians 1:5).

The Bible says we “are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26) Indeed, we as Christians are children of the King, and we should seek to bear a family resemblance to Him. Others are looking at us, and our words and actions can either make them want to join our family of Believers or turn away. Seek to show them God’s love, to show them the joy that comes from knowing Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. Encourage them to become a part of our family of Believers, to become a child of the King.

Of our 3 children, only 1 has a biological connection to us. Our adopted children not only have no biological connection to us, they even differ in race from us. Ethnically one is Vietnamese and the other is Indian. They bear no physical resemblance to us, and yet they do resemble us in so many other ways – our words, our actions, our values, our morals, etc. As Christians we have all been ADOPTED by the King, he is our FATHER through the spirit of ADOPTION (“You have received a spirit of ADOPTION as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” -Romans 8:15). We are children of the King, and as such we should seek to bear a family resemblance to Him, to be like Him so that others may see Him in us.

“The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine upon us.” (Psalm 118:27) “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) God's light shines upon us, and we are to let our light shine before men that they may see Him, our Father, through us. Are you a child of the King? If so, do you bear a family resemblance to Him?