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“Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35 NIV
The Oxford Dictionary defines a family as: “a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit,” or: “all the descendants of a common ancestor.” For me, I have a wife and two kids. Growing up, my family included my mom and dad, and my three siblings.
What does your family look like? How has it changed over the years? What do you think it will look like in the years to come?
In our scripture reading for this Sunday, Jesus redefines the family, but not in way we might think. Instead of focusing on a bloodline – he challenges us to focus on a different family, our spiritual family. It is our common mission, given to us in our Baptism – to do God’s will. That binds us together as a part of the family of God.
Stop for a moment and think about your spiritual family. Who would you include? Is there a parent or grandparent that has influenced your faith? Or perhaps a teacher, or neighbor? Maybe someone in church today, who prays for you or that you have a special connection to, that you relate to in a godly way?
These are our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. We need them, and they need you. It reminds me a lot of a beloved hymn, Children of the Heavenly Father: Slowly read through it with your spiritual family in mind:
Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather
Nestling bird nor star in Heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given
God, His own doth tend and nourish
In His holy courts they flourish
From all evil things He spares them
In His mighty arms He bears them
Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord, His children sever
Unto them His grace He showeth
And their sorrows all He knoweth
Though He giveth or He taketh
God His children ne’er forsaketh
His, the loving purpose solely
To preserve them, pure and holy
In Christ;
Pastor Dan
