Justin Taylor pulls out the piercing summary of Russel Moore's post Don't Adopt.
Like missions, I believe that everyone should be involved in the ministry. Not all are called to be a missionary, but if you are not sent, you are called to be a sender. In the same way, if you are not called to adopt (a joyful decision which should be weighed carefully), you should be about the business of supporting adoption through other means--financially, organizationally, emotionally.
Moore says, "Children shatter your life-plan. Adoption certainly does." I believe that this is so dramatically true that even couples going into adoption with the wrong mindset have great hope in redeeming their perspective of adoption. Even if parents start an adoption in a manner Moore speaks against, the job encourages repentance--repentance against selfishness, against consumerism, against simple romantic sentimentality. After all, none of us have a perfect understanding of parenting, adoption or the gospel. For those whom God has justified, we're walking the road of sanctification.
And that's where the real hope comes: out of understand God's adoption of his elect. When you see the rebellion of an adopted child against his parents, you have a deeper understanding of the chasm we've created between ourselves and God. Conversely, when we deeply and personally understand the unconditional love and redemption that God has poured out on his children through the cross, we can begin to love our children in the way God created us to. Adoption and the gospel positively reinforce each other, for when you adopt, you must live the gospel on a daily basis.
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