The adopted need to adopt a kingdom lifestyle …

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I have long advocated that people take advantage of the opportunity to travel when possible, especially international travel. When we get beyond our familiar environment and see how others live, the world becomes a smaller place and humanity more relatable.

Lianna Brinded shares a fascinating insight from Japan in a report she wrote for Business Insider:

    In Japan, 98 percent of adoptions are actually adult men, aged between 20-30 years old — not children. That is according to government data cited by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner in their book “Freakonomics,” as well as a number of other reputable media outlets also citing government data.

    It all started hundreds of years ago when Japan’s civil code dictated how a family’s wealth would be passed on after the death of the family elder. In households which only have daughters, a family would look to adopt a son, so they could fulfill the role of carrying on the family business as well as receiving and being custodian to the family’s cash and assets.

    Nowadays, legal adoption of this kind is paired with an arranged marriage — known as “omiai” — of a daughter, meaning the adopted son becomes son and son-in-law at the same time because he changes his name to the wife’s family name (“mukoyoshi”).

    In Japan, there are even matchmaking companies that recruit voluntary adoptees for Japanese corporates.

    Some of Japan’s most famous companies have remained a “family-run” businesses because of “mukoyoshi,” such as carmaker Toyota, which was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937.

    Suzuki is also famously run by adopted sons — in fact, the current chairman and CEO, Osamu Suzuki, is the fourth consecutively adopted son to run the group.

In Japanese culture, adoption is a practical solution to perpetuate the bloodline in the absence of an heir. God has a similar dilemma. Since “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,” God has also turned to adoption! No one is born a citizen of Heaven. Every son and daughter of God is so by adoption.

“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable,” 1 Corinthians 15:50 (NASB).

“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure,” Ephesians 1:5.

Now that you have been adopted into the kingdom of God, have you adopted a kingdom lifestyle? According to Jesus, doing so should be a top priority:

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need,” Matthew 6:33.

What are you seeking foremost? As an adopted child of God, have you fully adopted a kingdom lifestyle?

Scotty