The Father...

Lee Strobel tells a story that took place shortly after the Korean War. A Korean woman had an affair with an American soldier. She got pregnant. He had to go back to the United States and she never saw him again. But she gave birth to a little girl, and this little girl didn’t look like other Korean children. She had curly hair and her brown eyes were shaped like her father’s. This little girl was ruthlessly taunted by people. They called her one of the ugliest words in the Korean language. It meant “alien devil”. And it didn’t take long for this little girl to draw some conclusions about herself based on the way people treated her. Her mother tried to raise her little girl as best she could. For seven years she tried to do that until the rejection was just too much. Then she did something that most people could never imagine doing: She abandoned her little girl to the streets.

For two years the girl lived as a beggar, as a scavenger, until finally she made her way to an orphanage where she found some sort of refuge. One day word came that a couple from America was arriving to adopt a child from the orphanage, and all of the children in the orphanage got excited because at least one of them was going to have hope. One child would have a family. So this little girl spent the day cleaning up the other children, giving them baths, combing their hair and wondering which one would be adopted by the American couple. When the couple arrived, this is what she recalls:

It was like Goliath had come back to life. I saw the man with his huge hand touch and play with every child. It seemed that he loved every one of them as if they were his own. I saw tears running down his face and I knew that if they could this couple would’ve taken the whole lot of them home with them. He saw me out of the corner of his eye. Now let me tell you, I was nine-years-old, but I didn’t look it. I was a scrawny thing. I had worms in my body and lice falling out of my hair. I had sores on my body and face. I was not a pretty sight. But the man came over to me and he said something in English. I looked up at him and then he took this huge hand and lay it on my face. What was he saying? He was saying, “I want this child. This is the child for me.”

And the God of all heaven says the same thing about you. The Bible is God’s adoption ad. It’s his message to the whole world saying how he aches to pour out his love on adopted children. If God were to take out an adoption ad, maybe it would read like this:

“I’ll take those who feel inadequate and mediocre. I’ll take the notorious and the unworthy. I’ll take those whose misguided search for love and fulfillment have left them feeling lonely and empty. I’ll take those who are struggling with unanswered questions. I’ll take those who are on the treadmill of trying to prove they’re somebody. And to all who come I will provide the depth of love that cannot be found in empty sexuality. I’ll provide the type of fulfillment that money could never buy. I’ll provide the security of a relationship that will last forever. And I will provide joy and satisfaction and fulfillment that will endure for eternity."

So does he or doesn’t he? Ya, he does. And he loves you more than you could possibly imagine. It’s one thing to believe that God exists; it’s another thing to believe that he knows your name, that he’s chosen you and he wants to be your Father. (Lee Strobel, "Meet the Jesus I Know")