God's Family

The 2009 film, The Blind Side, tells the true story of Michael Oher, an African American whose mother struggles with substance abuse and whose father is out of the picture. His family situation leaves him with nowhere to go. That is until one night he is taken in by Leigh Anne and her very well-off, very white family. What was initially a spur-of-the-moment decision to give Michael a place to stay leads to Michael being brought into the family and becoming a successful footballer.

Considering adoption, and trying to explain legal guardianship, Leigh Anne asks Michael if he would like to become part of the family. He responds by saying, "I kinda thought I already was". This small comment reveals something of the depths of family.

Family goes deeper than a legal document. Family goes deeper than the colour of your skin. Family goes deeper even than blood. Family is the deep love and commitment we share that stands the test of time. In the book of Galatians, Paul says, we "are all children of God through faith". Our faith brings us into a community of people who stand with us through it all.

Paul says that, in this family, it doesn't matter what your race is, it doesn't matter what your gender is and it doesn't matter what your economic status is; we are all brought into the same inheritance. We are all one in Christ Jesus. It doesn't mean that we lose all of these things; we don't all become the same. Instead, it means that these are no longer defining features of our identities.

In the first century, these things would have been used to establish a hierarchy or an order of significance but in the family of God, the only thing that is important is our faith in Jesus. It is by faith that we received the Holy Spirit of Jesus into our hearts. This Spirit binds us and unites us into this new family, where we can celebrate our differences instead of using them to compare ourselves to one another, and where we receive all the love and commitment we can possibly hope for.

Thought Point

How do you treat your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you show them the love and commitment of family?

Prayer Point

Thank God for the inheritance He offers you, and that He has brought you into the love of His family. Ask Him to pour this love into your heart to the point that it overflows to others.