Welcome to the Family
John 15:12-15 “So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends. You show that you are my intimate friends when you obey all that I command you. I have never called you ‘servants,’ because a master doesn’t confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But I call you my most intimate and cherished friends, for I reveal to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father.
One of the hardest parts about stepping into purpose is realizing that Jesus didn’t just forgive you of your sins, but He also calls you His friend. He not only loves you, but He desires intimacy with you.
You might be thinking, “Well, that doesn’t seem too hard.” The problem is that many of us are aware of our pasts, our failures, our weaknesses and it is hard to imagine the Creator of the Universe would want to be close to us, or that he would trust us with a purpose.
But He has.
He wanted to be close to us SO MUCH that he committed the ultimate act of love by laying down His life for us, His friends. He doesn’t want just simple obedience or He would have created robots. He gave us free will in the hopes that we would CHOOSE to love and serve Him by taking what He reveals to us as friends and SHARING IT WITH OTHERS.
We must realize we are a part of a family. A “great cloud of witnesses” as the scriptures say. We are a part of a family whose number knows no end. We must do all we can to increase that family. The greatest step is to trust the good work that He has done in us and to share it with those whom we love and who need it the most.
So, if no one else has said it to you, let me. Welcome to the Family.
One of the hardest parts about stepping into purpose is realizing that Jesus didn’t just forgive you of your sins, but He also calls you His friend. He not only loves you, but He desires intimacy with you.
You might be thinking, “Well, that doesn’t seem too hard.” The problem is that many of us are aware of our pasts, our failures, our weaknesses and it is hard to imagine the Creator of the Universe would want to be close to us, or that he would trust us with a purpose.
But He has.
He wanted to be close to us SO MUCH that he committed the ultimate act of love by laying down His life for us, His friends. He doesn’t want just simple obedience or He would have created robots. He gave us free will in the hopes that we would CHOOSE to love and serve Him by taking what He reveals to us as friends and SHARING IT WITH OTHERS.
We must realize we are a part of a family. A “great cloud of witnesses” as the scriptures say. We are a part of a family whose number knows no end. We must do all we can to increase that family. The greatest step is to trust the good work that He has done in us and to share it with those whom we love and who need it the most.
So, if no one else has said it to you, let me. Welcome to the Family.