See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!…
– 1 John 3:1(a) NLT

We Were Made to be Part of God’s Family- So Share and Offer Love

We are all fearfully and wonderfully made as David wrote in a psalm; God thought of us before we were conceived and he had plans for us before even our parents did. God made us to be his children. 1 John 3:1 lets us know that our father loves us so much he calls us his children because that’s what we are! Jesus made us Holy and the bible tells us that, “the ones Jesus makes holy share the same father as he, and that is why he calls us brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11).

I think we can somewhat get our heads around that statement, but what may be difficult is who WE allow into this family. We lose a sense of who is in charge of this family and often times believe that it is our duty to be the bouncer that has the list of people we are willing to let cross the red ropes of glory into God’s family. Yet the bible gives us the real information when it says, “ 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. (Eph. 1:5).” The TRUTH is God, in advance, chose those who He wanted to adopt into his family. Paul in the book of Galatians states, “For you are all children[m] of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” It doesn’t say only people who are from a specific denomination, or have a certain title above their doors, or are a certain color, or gender or race, get to be art of the family.  It states we can all become family through our faith in Christ!

So for the hard part, if we accept all those that call upon the name of the Lord as our brothers and sisters, maybe we should change the way we treat them. Christ offers us the greatest command, and lets us know we ought to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy strength, and to love thy neighbor as thy self! LOVE is mentioned 551 times in the NIV. We can learn to live purposeful lives when we live lives that are full of love. Join us Sunday as we talk about ways in which we can love one another, especially the family of God that we were made to be apart of!