"Family Ties"

by Dan Cooper

            Quite often I hear to us as being children of God. Logically, since God is our heavenly Father we are therefore His children. This all sounds great until we read the ever-so popular verse John 2:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” What do you notice about this verse? It refers to Jesus as being God’s “one and only Son.”

            That presents a bit of a problem doesn’t it? If the bible says that Jesus is God’s only Son and the bible is never wrong that means that we’re not God’s children? Well, you’re half right. It is true that you are less related to God than I am to Tom Cruise but you are also an important part of His family.

            Maybe you’re a part of your family because you born into it or maybe you were adopted but I can’t think of any other way of being part of a family. It’s either through blood relation or through adoption. The same rules apply to our relation to God. As we have already learned from John 3:16, none of us are God’s actual children. The only way we can become His children is if we accept God as our Father and are reborn into His family. When we are baptized we are reborn into God’s family and form a true blood relation to God because of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.

            Just in case you’re wondering, no, this won’t make you like Hercules: half man, half god. What this does mean is that you are entitled to all of the same privileges and honor that our loving God has to offer, most importantly never being separated from Him. You’ve also been adopted into a pretty big and prestigious family that includes some pretty awesome people: The Apostle Paul, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., the disciple Peter, and most importantly Jesus Christ. That’s right! If you’re been baptized they’re your new family.

            Apart from my adopted heavenly family I have several adopted families here on earth. I have a couple of female friends who I would consider sisters in every way except for blood relation. They are just as close and as important to me as any blood relative could be. My friend Lucas is just like a brother to me and his family has adopted me as their third son. Whenever I go to Lucas’ house I get the usual “hi son” from Lucas’ mom which is of course replied to by “hi mom.” Some of you readers might not know this but my dad, Ed, is actually my step-dad and my brother is my half-brother genetically. As far as I’m concerned Ed is the only dad I have apart from God and Dave is just as good as and full blood brother could ever be.

            As much as I love these earthly families my love doesn’t even compare to the love that God has for His adopted family. As our mutual Father He would do anything for us and will always hear our prayers. Since He’s God He’ll never fail us and He’ll never change his love for us. Even when our earthly fathers let us down we can always count on the fact that we have a heavenly Dad who is up in heaven watching over you and is always willing to chat.