The Family of God

I remember when I was younger, the church we attend ended every service singing, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God......"  I always thought it was an interesting song and specifically meant within my church.  As I have grown, I have found that their are a lot of people in the family of God.  I meet new people everyday and find a close knit like I have known them all my life.

In todays world, so many people are cutting others out of their life( ie. ex-spouse, bad friend, old co-worker) for whatever reason.  I thought I would share a story that I was told in youth group a long time ago. There once was a new Christian and wanting to be a good Christain, he decided to stop associating with anyone that did not believe in God.  He felt very good about his decision until he found that a few of his "Christian" friends were not acting very "Christian" like so he decided to eliminate anyone who did not act like a "Christian." Then one day he got in a heated discussion with one of his approved friends and found that they did not see eye to eye on a passage in the word of God so he redrew his friendship circle to only include those who shared the same biblical view points as him.  He was very happy, but then he heard some gossip at church about someone within his circle befriending someone outside of his circle so he once again redrew his line to only include his immediate family, born and raised to believe like him.  Time went by and he realized that they were all heathens and sinners as well, so he eliminated them form his circle one by one until he was the only one left in  his circle.  Then one day a stranger came by seeking friendship from him.  He quickly explained all the qualifications for friendship.  The stranger gave him a sympathetic look and said, "you have failed your own friendship test and yet I loved you so much I gave you my life." At that moment he realized that Jesus loves us inspite of ourselves.  He doesn't put conditions on His love for us and that putting conditions on his friendships had only left him lonely.

We may not see eye to eye.  We may not worship the same way.  We may not sing the same songs, but all I need to know is that your Father in Heaven loves you to know that I love you too.