9.9.2026 - Rick DeBruyne

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

We are thinking this week about baptism.

Our scripture for today is Ephesians 1:3-6, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him

before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for

adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his

glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

February 3 and June 17 are very special days in our family. They are Chloe and Sebastian’s Gotcha Days.

Chloe and Sebastian are our son and daughter-in-law’s children - our grandchildren. Both are adopted.

February 3 and June 17 are the days their adoptions were finally finalized and they became our forever.

We will never forget the joy and relief we felt. The kids were finally ours. No more court hearings, no

more custody concerns, no more parental rights worries, no more legal wrangling. The kids were

forever ours. Along with the court ceremony and that included pictures with the judge, we had a great

day of celebration. That’s what a Gotcha Day is and Baptism is like our Gotcha Day with God - it’s a

ceremony and celebration that marks our adoption as children of the most high God.

Out of our verses I would like to focus on verse 5, “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship

(or

to be his children)

through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his

glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

Just let that roll over in your mind for a minute. No wonder Paul says we have been blessed with every

spiritual blessing under heaven! The verse begins, In love - in love he predestined us for adoption.” For

God so loves you, for God so loves me that he predestined us for adoption as his children. The God of all

creation who is all knowing and all powerful, who could do anything he wanted to do, so loves us that, in

Christ, he chose us to be his children and predestined us for adoption. Love is an affection, but it is also

an action. God so loved us that he gave his only begotten son that we might become his adopted sons

and daughters.

The text also reminds us that God predestined us for adoption in accordance with his pleasure and will.

There were no pressures exerted on God to adopt us. He did it according to his pleasure and will. It’s

what God wanted to do. It’s what gave God pleasure to do. It reminds me of the creation story in

Genesis. Each day when God created he declared what he had done good. But on the sixth day, after

he created human beings and his work was completed he said, it’s very good. One of my professors said

the sense is that he said this with great joy and even a bit of laughter, this is very good. Our baptism is a

sign and seal of our adoption into God’s family and it is what he wanted to do and it gave him pleasure -

it pleased him.

Finally the text moves us to praise. The verse says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship

through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which

he has freely given us in the One he loves. Verse 3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” The

words of these verses hardly convey the fullness of what they are saying. It’s like taking pictures

sometimes. On our last trip to Oregon, for some reason on the way up the colors seemed more vibrant,

the mountains more majestic, the rolling hills of golden grain all the more grand, but when I tried to take

a picture, almost every time I would say to Gladys, my wife, these pictures just don’t do it justice. The

picture can’t quite capture the beauty, the grandeur, the majesty of what you’re seeing. So too, these

words almost seem hollow when trying to capture the fullness of praise. Praise be to God the Father of

our Lord, Jesus Christ.

As we reflect on our baptism today, let’s keep in mind our baptism is a sign and seal of our adoption as

children of God. Let’s let it settle into our souls that we are so dearly loved of God that he chose us and

adopted us and that it gave him pleasure to do so. Let us be moved to praise throughout the day as we

realize how fully blessed we are as adopted children.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The LORD turn his face, his countenance, his smile toward you and give you peace.”