Fellowship: you were formed for God's family

God wants a family, and he created you to be a part of it. This is one of God's purposes for your life, which he planned before you were born. The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love him, honor him and reign with him forever. Because God is love, he treasures ...God wants a family, and he created you to be a part of it. This is one of God's purposes for your life, which he planned before you were born. The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love him, honor him and reign with him forever. Because God is love, he treasures relationships. His very nature is relational and he identifies himself in family terms: Father, Son and Spirit. The Trinity is God's relationship to himself. It's the perfect pattern for relational harmony and we should study its implications. God already exists in loving relationship to himself, so he's never been lonely. He didn't need a family -- he desired one. So he devised a plan to create us, bring us into his family and share with us all he has. This gives God great pleasure. "It was a happy day for him when he gave us our new lives through the truth of his Word, and we became, as it were, the first children in his new family" (James 1:18, LB). When we place our faith in Christ, God becomes our Father, we become his children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family. The family of God includes all believers in the past, in the present, and all who will believe in the future. Every human being was created by God but not everyone is a child of God. The only way to get into God's family is by being born again into it. You became part of the human family by your first birth but you become a member of God's family by your second birth. "... it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God's own family" (1 Peter 1:3b, LB). The invitation to be part of God's family is universal (Mark 8:34, Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13, 2 Peter 3:9), but there is one condition: faith in Jesus. Not only are we born again into God's family through faith, the Bible says God also "adopts" us (Romans 8:15, 23, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5). We don't deserve to be his children, but he has chosen us for this privilege because he loves us. Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, growing old and, inevitably, by death. On the other hand, our spiritual family -- our relationship to other believers -- will continue throughout ete ity. It is a much stronger union, a more permanent bond, than blood relationships. The moment you were spiritually born into God's family, you were given some astounding birthday gifts: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access and the family inheritance! (1 John 3:1, Romans 8:29, Galatians 4:6-7, Romans 5:2, 1 Corinthians 3:23, Ephesians 3:12, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Romans 8:17) "Since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you" (Galatians 4:7b, NLT). The New Testament gives great emphasis to our rich "inheritance." What benefits do we inherit? As children in God's family we are give "the riches ... of his grace ... kindness ... patience ... glory ... wisdom ... power ... and mercy" (Ephesians 1:7, Romans 2:4, Romans 9:23, Romans 11:33, Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 2:4). We also inherit ete al life and God puts his Spirit inside us now as a guarantee of all that is to come (Ephesians 1:13-14). What an inheritance! You are far richer than you realize. Your ete al inheritance is priceless, pure, permanent and protected; no one can take it from you. It can't be destroyed by war, a poor economy or disaster. This inheritance, not retirement, is what you should be looking forward to. Retirement is a shortsighted goal. You should be living in light of ete ity. The Bible says, "Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn't ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters" (Hebrews 2:11, CEV). Let that amazing truth sink in! Because Jesus makes you holy, God is proud of you. Being included in God's family is the highest honor, the greatest privilege you and I will ever receive. Nothing else comes close. Why not pause right now and thank God that he included you. "Praise God for the privilege of being in Christ's family and being called by his wonderful name!" (1 Peter 4:16, LB). -Pastors.com®- This article is based upon the N.Y. Times bestseller, “The Purpose Driven Life,” which is available at http://www.pastors.com/pcom/specials/PDLBook.asp. ©Copyright 2003. Used by permission. All rights reserved.