Invited Into the Family
by Tim Archer on Oct.19, 2007, under Hope
You have been invited to become a member of God’s family. I know that sounds strange: ordinary humans entering into a relationship with the God that created them. Yet that’s exactly what God has offered us. You’ll hear this referred to in different ways: salvation, being born again, coming to Jesus, becoming a Christian. While many other terms are appropriate, I can best relate to the idea of coming into God’s family.
You see, God is a God of relationships. It was He that came looking for man, not vice versa. The Bible tells us that it was love that motivated God to reach out to man. It was God who first made the gesture of trying to fix our broken relationship.
But what happened to our relationship with God? Why did it need fixing? If He created us, why can’t we all just be with Him? The way I understand it, it all comes down to God’s nature. For example, God is light, so darkness cannot be where He is. God is truth, so all untruth is away from Him. God is life, so death is banished from His presence. And God is holy, God is pure, God is untouched by evil. Therefore everyone who has sinned cannot live with God. And because we all have sinned, we are disqualified from being in God’s family.
The stains that sin leaves last a lifetime… and beyond. Only someone who has never sinned can possibly take them away. That’s why God sent His son Jesus. Jesus came to earth and lived a life without sin. His unjust death opened the way for us to receive the forgiveness of our sins. We can let His death be the payment for our sins. His innocent blood is able to wash away the stains of sin, allowing us to be holy like God, allowing us to be adopted into God’s family. This is the good news that God has for mankind: through Jesus Christ and His death, God has provided the way in which we can have a complete relationship with Him.
Humans, imperfect as we are, can come to be included in God’s family. The apostle John wrote about Jesus: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)
What does it mean to you that we’ve been invited into the family? How does that make you feel? How can we help others see this blessing?
I’d like to hear from you.
In Him,
Tim Archer
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Hi Tim ,
I agree with all you say. What would you tell someone that has in the past given his life to the Lord , but subsequantly experienced deep pain/hardship and now want nothing to do with God , whom he believes is the creator/allower off all the suffering he experienced?
Cheers
You’ve touched on some of the hard questions of faith, some things that aren’t easily answered. Many of the “why”s of suffering go beyond our understanding. And it’s difficult for someone to address someone else’s suffering without sounding a bit trite or insensitive.
Suffering is very much a part of the Christian life. Romans 8:17 says that we are co-heirs with Christ only IF we suffer with Him. We only have to look at the life of Christ to see that life on this earth is not fair. The way I understand it, the only way God could totally remove suffering from this world would be to take away all free will, turning us into to the equivalent of robots.
This I cling to: God is good. He will make everything right in the end, but not before then. We must remain faithful until then, trusting that God will bring everything to light in its due time. I know that those words come more easily to me in a time of peace than they do to one in the midst of suffering. But I believe them to be true.
May God bless you, and grant you an awareness of His presence and His peace. I pray the same for your struggling friend.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer