“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5 NLT
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.” 1 Peter 1.3-5 NLT
“Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:13 NLT
Day 15 of 40: God has given me a family with a history and a heritage. As an adopted child who never knew his birth parents and therefore had no family history or heritage… this has been a big deal for me.
Prior to being “born again” I had taken as my own the history and heritage of my adopted family… that’s what they wanted and it worked okay for me – to a point. I always knew it was make-believe… so I never really felt connected in any kind of organic way… but it was all I had – a kind of emotional “go-along-to-get-along.”
But the surrender of my life to Christ changed all that.
That “God decided in advance to adopt me into His family” has posed no problem for me… and described my personal experience. That’s why I use the word “surrender.” From a very young age, I felt that God had a claim on my life and was pursuing me. My profession of faith with baptism as an adult was the culmination of that pursuit with surrender.
It certainly felt like being “Born Again” to me –
I knew right away that God had given me a new – real, or true, – family history and heritage. But the significance and magnitude of my inheritance continues to unfold for me – it’s like a diamond with endless facets.
At first, my new Christian family was a source of joy, comfort and encouragement – probably because I chose primarily to associate with people a lot like me. We were all different but nevertheless socio-economically and culturally pretty much the same. We all knew how to get along with each other, and didn’t demand much of each other. My honeymoon season lasted 4-5 years.
It wasn’t until I was ordained and began working with people very different from me… with different values and expectations… that relationships became difficult. Taking pride in your family history and heritage is one thing… living and working day to day with some of the “Bozos” is another. You can’t get away from them.
Once, when I had answered a call to a new church, my father-in-law asked me, “Got any jerks?” Barbara and I have often laughed at that, but he knew what I discovered – there are “jerks” in every family… human and Christian. And from God’s perspective… we’re all “jerks.”
There won’t be any “jerks” in heaven (we’ll all be perfected) – thank you Jesus – but the challenge in this life is learning to live with them… and learning to love them.
The very first Bible study that I ever led – 40 years ago – was titled “Learning to Love: God, Yourself, and Others.” I’m still learning.
The Peanut Gallery 