Faith family ties

Wherever we go, no matter the country or the culture, when we meet Christians, we have an incredible sense of family. I have flesh and blood relatives with whom this family thing is in name and bloodlines only because we have little in common. However, in the family of God, we have much that we share.

This family begins in history. God spoke to a man called Abraham and told him what to do: “And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) This family began by faith and by God’s gracious gift of declaring that He considers righteous all those who believe Him. This is not about anything Abraham did — although how he lived proved that He believed God. He was not like others who didn’t hear or know God or if they did, refused to trust Him.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)

According to this New Testament verse, the promises of God are for those who believe like Abraham did. The phrase that includes those who keep the Law of God is almost tongue in cheek because no one does. It may have been inserted there in the same tone as “You can have eternal life as a gift or earn it if you are a perfect person.” This isn’t going to happen!

The New Testament reiterates over and over that eternal life is given freely to those who believe what God says. Obviously, the faith to believe requires knowing what God says. Before the Bible was written, God spoke to Abraham — we don’t know how. Then He gave us the Old Testament which foresees that the way to God is by faith. Then He gave us Jesus Christ:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1–3)

Again, faith is presented as the way to become a child of God. At first, Jesus was welcomed but when the people realized they needed to trust Him totally, they reacted and crucified the Savior. However, He rose from the dead and as this good news was shared, many people believed, just like Abraham believed.

The Galatian Christians believed. Their life of faith began by taking God at His word, but after a while, they thought they needed to add Law-keeping, just to be certain. Paul wrote them saying:

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:5–9)

In this passage, God affirms that believing as Abraham did makes us righteous. He even says we are offspring of this man, not by bloodline but because of faith, putting us into the family of God the same way as Abraham and the same way as anyone else who hears God speak and believes what He says.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Oh precious Jesus, this explains the sense of family with other Christians. We are children of God by faith. We share the Spirit of God and hear Your voice. You are One and speak unity to us. You are love and that love is in our hearts. This also explains why our spiritual enemies try to mess up our family with strife, anti-God ideas, false teaching and so on. But the reality cannot be ruined for it is something that You have done and . . . “Whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

Today’s thankful list . . .

Enduring power of God.

Being a child of Abraham by faith and part of God’s family.

The gift of faith so I believe God.

My family, both those by blood and marriage and those by faith.

A lovely day (25c / 77F) with no wind.

The walking trails close to our home.

My pacemaker, now giving me energy to do things I could not do six months ago!

My hubby who is so eager to help, to encourage.