Real Family

Have you had people in your life who do not have your last name and are not related to you but are your family just the same? Throughout my childhood, I had those who were not blood relatives but were nonetheless family to me.

Sometimes we talk about the family of God and, at the same time, wonder, who is really my family, and how much of a family are we? Everyone claims their stake in the family of God, but what are the criteria that determine someone’s part in God’s family? I think Jesus is the best one to determine that! Look carefully at his words.

Mark 5:31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”  “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” 

Successfully fulfilling God’s purpose on earth is a byproduct of God living in and through us. Those who genuinely do God’s will have the life-flow of God living through them. The level of our intimacy with God determines whether or not our life looks like Christ and does his will. Trying to be faithful to God is quite burdensome, but resting in His faithfulness is how heaven invades earth. 

If you want to know what is in a sponge, squeeze it. Similarly, the pressures of life squeeze us and reveal what we have been soaking upon. If your Christianity is about you trying hard to fulfill God’s purpose, you will miserably fail, but if you soak up God’s reality, the will of heaven will naturally flow through you! Experiencing God and living his life is not a work we perform; it is a natural outcome of surrender and trust. Surrendering to who he is and receiving his provision for you is the key to unlocking the flow of his life within you. Please don’t ever forget the following statement: Right living is the result of right believing. This is why the Bible calls it grace. God’s undeserved help and power are the natural byproducts of genuine faith.

Those who try to serve God in their own strength will live outside God’s purposes, unable to operate as his family and fulfill his will. God’s will can only be accomplished through a person who believes and therefore experiences God’s life living through them.

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.

As you let go of anything you could do for God and allow his life to flow through you, fulfilling the purpose of God will be your natural way of life! Indeed, those who, by faith, allow God to live His life through them are God’s…

Real Family