God’s family model…

1 Timothy 5:1-2
Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity. (WEB)

God is all about family. In Ephesians 3:14-15, the Apostle Paul says… For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (WEB). The community of love that exists within the Trinity itself is made up of a Father, a Son and their common Spirit.

When God created Adam and Eve, it was His desire to extend His family. It was our Father’s intention that the start of the human race would begin under His blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication (Genesis 1:28) that would extend His family around the world.

In today’s Scripture reading, Paul exhorts his young spiritual son, Timothy, to see the church as an extension of his own family. Treat older men like fathers, younger men like brothers, older women as mothers and younger women as sisters. It was never God’s intention for us to relate to each other as an organization. You can leave an organization any time you like, but your family is your family for life!

My prayer today is that we would all see how it blesses our Father’s heart when we treat each other like real brothers and sisters. May we stop judging family members of different denominations just because they hold to personal preferences different than ours.

May the family love that comes from God rule over any of our personal biases and may the world around us truly see that we call each other ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ simply because we have the same Father. And may the fulfillment of our elder brother’s high priestly prayer in John 17 be fulfilled in this generation…

John 17:20-21
Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. (WEB)