Circumstances in your life shape your perspective of things. These are mine. My mother died of cancer when I was 14 years old, leaving me feeling lost within a fragmented family. I was the only female in a home with my dad and three older brothers. In those early formative teen years, I was blessed with a church family that cared for me while my father worked several jobs. The “surrogate moms” were especially quick to step in to help guide me. I shudder to think what would have happened to me without their support.
When my five children were young, several friends stepped forward as aunts, uncles, and even grandparents. We called them our “I love you family”. They didn’t have to fill those roles, they chose to, making the relationships even more meaningful. Did it mean my children loved their blood family any less? Absolutely not! These were connections and relationships built out of love that went beyond the biological ties.
Today our family resembles a patchwork quilt, all sewn together by marriage, DNA, and beyond. My husband and I are a family unit. Together we share an extended family that includes our surviving parents (and four years ago, my dad came to be part of our household…but that is a blog in and of itself!), siblings, grown children, their spouses, sixteen grandchildren (and counting), nieces, and nephews. There are those in our family who we fervently pray will accept Christ as their Savior. Thankfully, there are others who have already been saved by His blood and with them, we share a dual kinship; the second one being as members of the family of God.
“God’s family, which comes into being by regeneration, is more central and more lasting than the human family that comes into being by procreation.” John Piper.
With God our Father and under the headship of Christ, the Body is a family. Again and again in my life I have had this illustrated to me. We are brothers and sisters with a relationship that will last throughout this life and into eternity!
Within the family of God, we find sanctuary. This sanctuary is a place to be safe, a soft place to land. We enjoy a sense of fellowship and belonging. Together we are free to grow spiritually so that we may leave the comfort of our sanctuary and go out into the world, taking the Gospel of Truth. We are free to be His Hands and Feet. Romans 10:15 We are called to seek out and love the lost. We are given the opportunity to offer hope to the hopeless in a hurting world. Ephesians 3:6, Romans 8:16-17
I am convicted that it’s our opportunity and responsibility to extend that same love and acceptance towards those who are “family-less” in our community. We are to be ambassadors of Christ and bless others with the same love that was and is extended to me and to you. “We love because He first loved us.” John 4:19.