Be Mine

Thinking about family.  Will you be mine?

Many need family.  Many just don't "have" those to whom they are genetically related in the sense of "having" them ready to stand beside them through thick and thin.  Many ask, "Will you be mine?"  Will you be my dad, my mom, my sister, my brother?  Will you be mine for keeps?

Because of Jesus, there is no limit to the number of brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers any of us may have.  Barriers can be set up against the expansion of the Lord's family, but those barriers are not set up from God's "side."  The difficulty is with us--either we don't know about Jesus' ever expanding love, or we don't trust it, or, for some reason that I will never totally understand, we just don't want it.  Some would say that "faith" or "trust" or "belief" is a requirement from God's side, that unless we have this "thing" called faith God will reject us.  But I don't see that as true in this life, unless God chooses to let us go our own way for our eventual good, to teach us "the hard way" after we've turned away from him too many times.  God's plan and God's desire, however, is to claim us all, and that's what I believe we are called to share--open and unconditional love.

In a practical way we Christians need to find ways of expanding our family circles to include more than those to whom we are genetically related.  Some of our boundaries and barriers need to come down.  This is best done not in the context of individual family life, but in the church family, in local churches, where people are called out of the isolation of nuclear and extended "blood family" lines into the big family of God.

Matthew 12

⁴⁶ While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. ⁴⁷ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” ⁴⁸ He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

If you don't yet consider yourself a part of Jesus' family, I encourage you to investigate his love. In the end I believe you will be glad you did.
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