Daily Devotion

 

 

There is in this passage a great, and practical truth.  It may very well be that a person finds himself closer to people who are not related to him than he does to his own family.  The deepest relationship of life is not merely a blood relationship; it is the relationship of mind to mind, and heart to heart.  It is when people have common aims, common principles, a common goal that they become really, and truly kin.

 

The kingdom of God is a society upon earth where God's will is perfectly done as it is in heaven.  It was Jesus' supreme quality that he alone succeeded in fully achieving the identity of His will and the will of God.  Therefore,all whose one aim in life is to make God's will their will, are the true kindred of Jesus.  We speak of all men being the sons of God; in a very real, and precious sense that is true, because God loves saints and sinners, but the deepest kind of sonship is ethically conditioned. It is when a man puts his will in line with God's will by the help of the Holy Spirit, that real kinship begins.

When a person looks up to God and says, "Do with me as You wish," he has found his way to joy. Two things emerge: (1^st) There is a loyalty that surpasses all earthly loyalties; there is something that takes precedence over the dearest things on earth.  In that sense, Jesus Christ is a demanding master, for He will share a man's heart with nothing, and no one.  Love is necessarily exclusive.  We can love, and serve only one master. (2^nd) That is hard, but there is still great wonder---that when a man gives himself absolutely to Jesus he becomes one of a family whose boundaries are the earth.  Whatever loss he may experience is counterbalanced by his gain.  As the poet, John Oxenham wrote,"In Christ, there is no East or West, In Him no South or North...But one great fellowship of love...Throughout the whole wide earth."

 

The person who through Jesus Christ seeks the will of God has entered into a family which includes all the saints on earth, and in heaven.

 

Life Application: I trust you are a part of the family of God, and experiencing what it means to be in that great fellowship.  That kind of fellowship is beyond anything earthly.

 

Praise/Prayer: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Dear Father, what a blessing it is to be a part of the family of God.  Father, as I have traveled around the world, I have found many who are a part of the wonderful family of God.  I feel sorry for those who have chosen not to be a part of Your family.  They just don't know what they are missing.   What a place Heaven will be when we all get home!

Amen!