GOD'S FAMILY OF OBEDIENT CHILDREN
- Key Verse
"Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matthew 12:50, NIV)
READ THE CHAPTER
Central Truth
Whoever is obedient to God shall become part of His family of faith.
Reflections
I come from a huge family. My mother is one of eleven children - eleven children who all married and had at least four children per family - and some had as many as ten children. I have thirty-five first cousins on my mother's side of the family. Let's not get into the number of children they had... My father is one of seven children and I am still trying to keep count of the cousins and the relatives on his side of our family because they're Sicilian, and well... Sicilians extend to third and fourth cousins and still consider them 'familia'.Family is important. They constitute our genealogical line, they hassle us when we deserve it and they willingly stand with their back to the wall in our defense. They love us, they love our children, and they tolerate the noise of our pets. They do this because we're family.
But here's the most important point that I have learned about family: it has so very little to do with the blood that curses through our veins and it has everything to do with the blood of Christ.
Our family is also the neighbor with whom we have conducted a polite 'civil' war through the years over the fallen limbs in our yard dropped from their 'nearly dead' tree. Have we treated them with the same 'golden rule' that we would like to have applied to ourselves? Have we done unto others, as we would have them do unto us, with the benefits and understanding that we would afford 'family'?
Our family is the person sitting next to us at church - the new person who doesn't know anyone and may well be trying to find their way in faith. Do we remember what that felt like? For some of us, it seems like yesterday.
Our family is everywhere.
Every believer who obeys the laws of God and places their faith in Him is in God's family - and as believers - we are all family.
Discussion Questions
1. How do you define 'family'?
2. How can you extend your definition of 'family' in your life to embrace others?
3. Does Scripture provide other examples of God's allegiance to His family of faith?
Comments
The views expressed under “Comments” are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Trinity Assembly.
Terry Ewell
January 18, 2010 10:14 AM
Wow, what a family you have, Shannon! I have three other siblings and my family seems meager in comparison. The typo I missed as editor--"the blood that CURSES through our veins"--does have an interesting twist. It should read "blood that COURSES!" However, the curse idea is true too! We all are under the curse of sin, however, through Jesus's blood sacrifice that blood curse was broken.
Esthers Edwards
January 18, 2010 11:52 AM
I loved reading about your large family! You are very blessed. Just as we are all very blessed to be a part of the all-encompassing family of God that has God's grace and forgiveness as the core value. Thanks for the challenge to always treat others with love and acceptance.