As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his
mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. Someone told Jesus,
“Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you.”
Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his
disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does
the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” MATTHEW 12:46-50 NLT
God
has adopted me into his family
God
decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great
pleasure. EPHESIANS 1:5 NLT
We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God
loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. 1 THESSALONIANS 1:4
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers
and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are
members of God’s family. EPHESIANS 2:19
NLT
God
has created a place for me to be loved by his family
If I
delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is
the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 1 TIMOTHY 3:15 ESV
Greet all the brothers and sisters with Christian love. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:26 NLT
And
he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian
brothers and sisters. 1 JOHN 4:21 NLT
If
we love our Christian brothers and
sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has
no love is still dead. 1 JOHN 3:14 NLT
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity,
we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. GALATIANS 6:10 NLT
God’s
family will be known for generous acts of love
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have
dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain
immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful
alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his
feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her
hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the
Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a
prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he
said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,”
Simon replied. Then Jesus told him
this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and
50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly
forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more
after that?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the
larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.
Then he turned to the woman and said to
Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t
offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her
tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from
the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected
the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with
rare perfume. “I
tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me
much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” LUKE 7:36-47 NLT
BE A PART OF OUR REAL FAMILY