Matthew 5:16, “ Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.”
Doing good works is a byproduct of being a new creation. Because of belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord we are made into new creations by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are given a new heart, new perspective, new abilities to use to make God known.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Because of our deep love for Jesus we are moved to love others deeply. Walking in the good works God has for us is to be a natural overflow of keeping Jesus the love of our lives. These good works are not something we can boast in. We know that we are only able to walk in these because we have been made new by no effort of our own, no good work we can take credit for. These good works are done through us by the power of God.
For adoptive families we often have an obvious good work that people who may not even know us well can see. Perhaps our family is multiracial and it reveals that we have adoptive. Or perhaps your adoptive children share your race but it is known that you have adoptive children and so your good work is seen. This can be a wonderful thing as it may open up doors to share the why behind our choice to adopt. This gives us a natural opportunity to point people to the lavish love of God. God adopts us into His family and call us His children. He could have saved us from our sin without making us apart of His Family but His love is so deep, so great, so unfathomable, that He adopted us!! What a story to tell!
Let us thank God that He has given us His light to shine. That He has called us to the good work of adoption. Let us pray for boldness and wisdom to unashamedly proclaim God’s love.
