WHAT IS FAMILY!

The other day, I saw a bumper sticker that said “We are all family/We all have value.” Immediately, I thought to myself....that’s not true. But, then I thought “yes it is true, well, partly true.” As humans we are all family. God created Adam and Eve and as their descendents we are all part of the human family.

There are two types of family, the human family and the Christian family. Christians are the children of Gods’ adopted family. An interesting thing happens when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and find a church to join. You immediately gain a family! I don’t use this term loosely, your church becomes your family. Not only is your immediate church your family, but Christians from all walks of life become your family because all members of the Christian family have the Holy Spirit within them. The Spirit recognizes the Spirit in other believers! So, in that case, all Christians are part of two families....the human family.....and God’s family.

What about the people that have not accepted Christ as their personal savior? Well, they are obviously part of the human family and they are part of the worlds’ family. What kind of family is that? A lost family, a wondering family, a searching family, a family seeking satisfaction but never finding it, a fickle family (running from one fleshly delight to another). A family that does not stand up for each other, but tears each other down (after all, it is a dog eat dog world), a greedy family, a selfish family and a very unhappy family.

Ok, now, what about the value thing you ask? We all have value, because we were all created by God! We weren’t just created by God as an after thought, He put much thought into every one of us long before the universe was ever created! You are very valuable and every person in the world has value! But, unfortunately, not every person in the world is a child of God.

I spent Friday night and most of Saturday with fifty women on our church retreat and that is where I really began to think about what it means to be a child of God, to be a part of Gods’ family. I’m not a night person, so I decided to call it a “night” around 10:15pm, however, most of the women decided to stay up and play a “very loud and noisy game” in the room next door to the sleeping area. Have you ever tried to sleep in a “hen house?” Me neither, but I imagine the noise level in both were comparable. Every time I began to doze off, the noise level got louder. But you know what? I didn’t even think about complaining, in fact, I smiled to myself, this is family and this is God’s love manifested in my sisters! These women are my sisters in God’s family having fun, enjoying fellowship with each other and building relationships!

Saturday dawned bright and early! We were all exhausted. Some of the younger women said that they only got a couple hours of sleep. I guess the rest of us were lucky because we were able to sneak in three or four hours, but we were happy, we were together and we were family!

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)

If you know that you are not part of God’s adopted family and you know that you are tired of being part of the worldly family please click on the heading “Becoming A Believer.”

Cindy

@copyright 2011 LVC Ministries, Inc