Spiritually speaking, there is no such thing as an unadopted Christian. Every believer comes into the family of God the exact same way. We don’t earn our way in. We’re brought in. Welcomed in. Adopted in.

At Mercy Hill, one of the sayings we come back to often is this: Adopted people adopt people. What do we mean? Simply this: when Christians remember their own adoption, they begin to long for others to experience what they’ve experienced. The gospel doesn’t just save us. It sends us. And one of the clearest pictures of that reality is adoption.

Remember Where You Came From

Paul gives this command in Ephesians 2:12–13:

“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Before Christ, our relationship with God was shattered. In rebellion, we walked away from him. In sin, we no longer had any standing in his family. Paul doesn’t soften this reality. He uses three words that cut deep: separated, alienated, estranged.

And then he says something profound. He equates the commonwealth of Israel and the covenants of promise with the true people of God. In other words, apart from Christ, we aren’t just lost or morally adrift—we’re outside the family. No rightful claim. No standing. No belonging.

That picture should sound familiar because it closely mirrors the experience of a child in need of adoption. A child separated from the family they were meant for. A child alienated from the home they long for. A child estranged, waiting for someone to act on their behalf.

The gospel tells us that someone did.

Jesus Paid the Price to Bring Us Home

If you’re a Christian, the reason you’re a part of God’s family is because Jesus stepped into your story. He paid the price to bring you home. Paul says it clearly in Galatians 4:4–5:

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Jesus didn’t just save you from sin. He adopted you into a family. He took those who were separated, alienated, and estranged, and made them sons and daughters of the king. This is why the gospel and adoption are inseparable. Adoption isn’t merely a social good or a compassionate act. It is a living, breathing picture of what God has done for us.

And this is why Christians, historically and statistically, are more than twice as likely to adopt than the general population. That’s staggering. But honestly, it’s not surprising. Adopted people adopt people. Those who have been brought into God’s family often feel compelled to step into the hard, beautiful stories of others.

When We Remember Our Adoption, We Become People Who Act 

Adoption is never easy. It always involves stepping into brokenness, history, wounds, and a long journey of love. But none of that is foreign to the gospel. When Jesus brought us into his family, he stepped into our brokenness, too. He bore our wounds. He carried our history. He embraced the long, patient work of love.

The more we remember what Christ has done for us, the more our hearts begin to mirror his. The gospel doesn’t twist our arm toward adoption or orphan care. It awakens us to it. It forms us into the kind of people who see children the way God sees them, who understand sacrifice the way God demonstrates it, and who respond to need the way God responded to ours.

This theme is what ultimately led me to write Chosen, a book about how the gospel shapes the way we think about adoption and foster care. My hope is that believers would see adoption not merely as a response to human need but as a reflection of divine love. God chose us. God brought us in. God made us his children through the sacrifice of his son. And that truth should radically reshape how we think about family, mission, and the church’s role in the world. Because adopted people adopt people.

Andrew Hopper

Want to Go Deeper? If this theme stirs something in you, I’d love for you to explore more in my upcoming book Chosen: Building Families the Way God Builds His. Click here to learn more and download a free chapter.