Matthew 12:46-50
‘While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus replied to the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” And extending His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold: My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.”’
It’s odd to think that Jesus had family. One thinks, “What must it have been like to grow up with Jesus?” Did he fight with siblings? Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.” But He gives a great promise, that we can be His family, if we do His will.
How do we do His will? First of we go to Him for forgiveness. Once this happens, He adopts us into His family, He gives us a new nature that wants to do His will. Now we are family.
We wake up each day and ask God to use us to do His will. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, In earth as it is in Heaven”. He’s equipped us to do His will. He’s given us gifts and talents. I Corinthians 12:23 says, “and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty”. Some have gifts that are more public, while others have gifts that are more private.
Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” There it is. Regardless how big or small, we do all for Him.
Working for Him is one way to get to know Him. We may be afraid to do something. We learn to trust Him. Jesus taught His disciples. He modeled ministry. Then He sent them out in pairs to do ministry. He does the same with us. We have the bible which gives us all sorts of examples to follow. When run into situations in which we can love, share or forgive. There we go. We are doing the will of the Father. That’s what life’s about.
Lord, thank You for adopting us. We are now Your children. We work in the family business. We begin to behave like Him. The fruit of the Spirit flows from our lives, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control”, (Galatians). We also learn His values in the beatitudes, “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God” and “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth”, (Matthew).
We become people that we would have never been without Him. Amazing. I Corinthians 1:27 says, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” It’s amusing how He works.
Thank You Lord for choosing us and using us. We are now Your children working in conjunction with you to reach others. We are now in Your family. Thank You.