# 12 - The Family of God
The
Church Defined
#
12 - Family of God
In John 1:12,13
we read, “But to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were
born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God.” (ESV)
Most of us are privileged to belong to a family, where
we both experience and share love. Sadly
however, there are those who have been deprived of this blessing because they
were orphaned or abandoned. Nonetheless, the good thing is, many of us have the
opportunity to have our own families, whom we love and cherish.
There is another family that all of us can be part of.
Those of us who have made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives (as stated in John 1:12) are part of this larger
family, which is the family of God. In this spiritual family, God becomes our
Father, we become His children and other believers become our brothers and
sisters. The blood of Jesus Christ is what binds us together, and this family
is not just local, but a global one.
When Jesus was here on earth, He too had an earthly
family. Once, when Jesus was teaching the multitudes, someone came and informed
Him that His mother and brothers were standing outside wishing to speak to Him.
This was Jesus’ reply in Matthew 12:48-50,
“But He answered and
said to the one who told Him, ‘Who is My mother and
who are My brothers?’ And He stretched out His
hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My
mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister
and mother.’” (NKJV) Though Jesus did not refute
that his mother and brothers were his earthly family, He went on to redefine
God’s family as those who did the will of His Father in heaven.
Another time when Jesus was teaching, “A woman in the crowd
called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.’ He
replied, ‘Blessed rather, are those who hear the
word of God and obey it.’” Luke 11:27-28 (NIV).
Here again Jesus reiterated that it was not his mother who bore Him who was
blessed, but rather it was those who lived their lives in complete obedience to
the word of God.
In Matthew
7:21-23, Jesus cautioned us, “Not
everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me,
‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and
performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break
God’s laws.’” (NLT)
There are therefore two important aspects for
those of us who belong to the family of God. One is to do the will of God and
the other, to heed and obey His word.
1
John 3:1 says, “Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God!” (NKJV) Since God has lavished His love on us as His children, may we love
and treasure our spiritual family as much as we value our earthly families.
Click this link for the other devotions: Church Defined
The Life Transforming WORD - By Esther Collins
Thank you dear for reminding us from God's Word that God has lavished His love on us His children so also we should love and treasure our spiritual family as much as we value our earthly family. Amen ! God bless !
ReplyDelete