Learning That God's Family is the Church

In review of Romans 15:6-7 it says, “You will all be joined together, and you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.”

Bottom Line:

All of you together will praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Honor God by accepting each other, as Christ has accepted you.

What this means to me:

Having the same goal, I will join together with my church family and praise God the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ. I will accept others in the same way Christ has accepted me. He did this to bring glory to God. There are only two ways to get into a family: I can either be born into it, or I can be adopted into it. Incredibly God does both for me! It’s referred to as being born again, and it’s called being adopted into the family of God. God does both. From what I understand, In Roman law, during the time the New Testament was written, you could disown a child that you had birthed. However if you adopted a child, you were forbidden to ever disown that child. God tells me that I am not only born again into his family, but he has adopted me, and there is no way he could ever disown me, no matter what I do. Once I’m born, I cannot be unborn. Once I am born again, I cannot be unborn again. I can grieve the Father, just like I sometimes had brought grief to my earthly parents. When I did the fellowship could have been broken, but no matter what my parents said, everybody would still know that I was their child. In the same way, once I become a child in the family of God, I’m in!

The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church” (GW). This means church is not just  something I go to. Rather, church is something I belong to. Together we are the family of God. I believe that many think that Christianity is a belief system, however it is a belonging system. There are beliefs involved, but it’s more than that. It means being a part of the body of Christ.

As explained in this verse, I belong to the family of God: “You will all be joined together, and you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God” (Romans 15:6-7 NCV). Being part of God’s family means that I will benefit now and in eternity from his blessings. As I have seen first hand, when I was ill and most recently when my wife was ill, my church family has surrounded us with prayer, assistance and has truly loved us. We are part of a great loving family that will last forever. As I heal and gett better, I look forward to spending time with my church family. I will pick back up where I left off in serving and will move forward with mentoring.