Baby Matt and God's Grace

As I prayed for Baby Matt last night and the wonderful family who brought him in to be their son, I thought about adoption, about God’s adoption of us. I love how the Lord gives us pictures so that we might better understand His grace. He is good. He is so good!

Baby Matt was not the baby everyone was fighting over to take home. He was not the baby that would make any mother so proud as he accomplished milestone after milestone. He was not the baby that would make his father beam as he babbled, “dada.” No, he was broken. He came into this world broken. He doesn’t know he’s broken, but it is sadly true. He is dying and short of a miracle, he will die at a very young age. This wonderful family brought him into their home even though he was broken. They have other children, alive and well, able to smile and laugh, able to say, “Mama, Daddy, I love you,“ able to look up to their parents, to want to grow up to be like them. They brought Matt into their home simply to love, not for anything they would receive in return, just because they chose to love him in spite of his condition.

So how does that relate to you and me? Well, we are Matt. We came into this world broken. We didn’t know we were broken, but it is sadly true. Our situation was not good because we were born with a sinful nature. Our desire was to please ourselves, not our creator and God. We didn’t even know Him. We couldn’t even call His name. We surely couldn’t love Him. We had nothing in us to make God want us. He is God. He has angels to shout His praises, to tell of His glory. If He commands even the rocks can cry out to Him. He doesn’t need us, broken creatures that we are. Yet, He chose us, not because He had to but because He wanted to chose us. He brought us into His family as children, not for anything we could offer Him (He is God and needs nothing.), just because He chose to love us in spite of our condition. Grace.

So what’s different? What is different is that when God adopted us as His children, He wiped away our disease. He removed our dead hearts of stone and replaced them with hearts of flesh, able to love Him. Now we can call His name, “Father, Daddy.” Now we can bring Him praise. Now we can live our lives every day to honor Him with obedience, devotion, and love.

I thank God for Matt’s earthly family who is living for God. They are showing us their devotion to a Father who took them in when they were broken. They are showing what it is like trying to be like Daddy.

I am sad that I can write about Matt as broken and not society’s wanted baby. I am sad that his situation is what it is, but I am so glad that we serve a God who is mighty to heal, if not here on earth, then completely one day in heaven. Praise be to God who does not make mistakes!