THE STORY OF JESUS: Luke 8:19-21
“My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
If anyone should be able to claim special ties to Jesus it was His family.
But being born into His family does not make you His family.
Being born into the church (as I was) does not make me a Christian.
Just because I am standing close to Jesus, does not mean I am close to Him.
The religious leaders were close to Jesus, yet remained closed to Him.
My guess is that this is true for many people who go to church.
My intent is not to be judgmental, but to make us church goers think.
Have we surrendered to His message of radical love (i.e. God’s Word)?
Are we loving those He loved, loving ALL God’s children?
Jesus does not just focus on hearing, but on doing (or practicing).
To experience the joy of God’s family life, it must be lived!
If I ignore, shun, exclude, look down on, other family members…
If I am jealous, greedy, arrogant, pushy… I ruin the family life.
God’s family love reaches out to ALL His children – will I join Him?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You have seen too much hurt and pain in Your family. Help me to practice Your family values, with ALL of Your family!
Jesus follower
trying to find His way
All too often we get caught up in this world. When we speak of family we think of our brothers and sisters born of the same parents.
Yet Christ’s family are all those who hear and do His word. Adoptive family tied together by His blood.
And as part of His family, we do good to all family members, because that is what family does – stand up for one another. Togetherness. Oneness.
Christ followers are His family and as such need to see one another as one – the Father’s children – adoptive – all in the family. As He said, let the children come unto me. And all the children live together in unity id they are His.
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity
May one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians
By our love, By our love
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians
By our love
We will walk with each other
We will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other
We will walk hand in hand
And together we’ll spread the news
That God is in our land
We will work with each other
We will work side by side
We will work with each other
We will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity
And save each man’s pride
All praise to the Father
From whom all things come
And all praise to Christ Jesus His only son
And all praise to the Spirit
Who makes us one
Make us one, Lord!