| Part of the Family with Rights and Responsibilities |
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We have a new puppy at our house. She is a 4 month old Lab as black as coal. The kids named her Pearl (no not named after the ship in Pirate's of the Caribbean--my kids haven't seen those awful movies.) Pearl joined our family after sustained lobbying by my children, which worked because I have always wanted to have a black lab myself! So now we have a new member of our family and we are working hard to teach her the family rules (no eating the cat, bathrooms are outside, no begging at the table, shoes are not chew toys, etc). She is a troublesome kid in the family, but we love her.
In Ephesians 1, Paul is describing all the blessings we recieve from God and one of those blessings is being adopted as sons, in other words joining God's family. Here is how Paul puts it.
1:5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
The NIV puts it this way:
1:5 In Love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will.
I read that verse this way.
God is pleased (in accordance with his pleasure) to have us and wants (in accordance with his will) to know us and loves (in love) to make us His own, so he decided before hand (predestined) to make us one of his children (adopted us as His sons).
Jesus used to be God's one and only son. But now God has a lot . . . no no no . . . A WHOLE TERRIBLE BIG LOT of troublesome kids. And He loves it!
And as family members, all the family rights apply to us. We have the love and protection of the Father, use of family property, support from other family members, an inheritance, and the discipline and training the Father gives his children.
We also have family responsibilities. We are to obey the Father. We are to represent the family well in public. We are to adopt and follow the family morals (holiness). We are to support and care for our brothers and sisters. We are to help in raising the young ones. We are to reach out to others and invite them to join the family.
Family!!! What a concept |
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