Family First
God wants everyone to become His children. It might be popular to assume we are all God’s children, but that is not the truth. The truth is, yes, God created all of Mankind. In that way all Humans are equal. Racial prejudice is just arrogance and a root of enmity, loneliness, bullying, and even wars. It is plain stupid.
So, yes, in one sense, we are all brothers and sisters. So, why in the name of all Creation are we in such a state of division and hostility? Ideals often fail to propel themselves into reality. They need a big push.
So, why doesn’t God intervene? Is the invisible God of the Bible even there at all? Does He get some perverse pleasure watching from His mansion beyond the sky? No. Absolutely no. Everyone is separated from the presence of God in their lives.
It was not always so. If one can believe the account in the Bible, it might give some illumination. God used to walk and talk with Adam and Eve as He strolled through the Garden “in the cool of the day.” However, as I have tried to stress before and as God is purported to be love (which He is), free will has been built into Humanity. We have the power of choice — free will. There cannot be reciprocal love without it. Yes?
There is nothing worse than unreciprocated love.
As I started, God wants to adopt all of Humanity — each and every one — and so to become His family. In that miracle we would become a much “tighter” group, overflowing with “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” — Galatians 5:22–23.
“What?! No way,” people say. “I’ve asked God several times to help, but He never shows up.”
That’s because of two stubborn facts:
- We choose our own way, taking the paths leading away from God.
- We think we can meet God on our own terms.
We are born into the world all askew and steeped in stubborn willfulness.
That is what the Bible calls the “sinful nature.” We are born to self serving and servitude to all the harmful ways we can imagine. Yes, of course there are nice people. “So, let me in,” people demand, “I have rights!”
That’s why we have built doors, fences, and gates … mentally and physically and spiritually in our appraisal of a relationship with God.
If everyone only has rights and no responsibilities, we end up where we deserve to be, in the world as it is today, and by the by, separated from God. No more walks in the park.
We are like disobedient children with no family relationship, separated, excluded from family picnics, no longer eligible for an inheritance, written out of the will.
Likewise we are separated from God, Father of us all. Our attitudes and actions separate us. We made the soup and now we have to eat it. Except …
God so loved the world He had made that He gave Jesus to offer us restoration.
We may never know the answer to the mystery of why He created us in the first place, and it is very hard to imagine why. But here we are. The Bible lays out the whole historical unfolding of God’s plan.
Yet, unless we strive to return to the Path He has set before us…
Both John, nicknamed the Baptist, and Jesus, named the Messiah, preached “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” And what exactly does repent mean? Answer: https://biblehub.com/greek/3340.htm “metanoeó: to change one’s mind or purpose.”
Beyond that turning, John emphatically warned, “But when he saw many of the religious leaders and theologians coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We belong to a Church.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up churches. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Jesus later taught, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.’” Later on, Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
God loves you and has a much better plan for your life than you do. Whether or not you understand that you could use a better life doesn’t matter. “This is real love — not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” — 1 John 4:10.
I searched and searched for life without finding it. I turned this way and that, trying different paths. Then, I turned to God. Then, Jesus found me!
Read the Bible and seek Jesus’ presence in your life.
** https://adoptionnetwork.com/adoption-myths-facts/domestic-us-statistics
** — “There are 107,918 foster children eligible for and waiting to be adopted. In 2014, 50,644 foster kids were adopted — a number that has stayed roughly consistent for the past five years. The average age of a waiting child is 7.7 years old and 29% of them will spend at least three years in foster care.” https://adoptionnetwork.com/adoption-myths-facts/domestic-us-statistics/
