God’s family, which comes into being by regeneration, is more central and more lasting than the human family that comes into being by procreation.
This Momentary Marriage – A Parable of Permanence, Desiring God Foundation, 2008, p. 117, www.DesiringGod.org.
So what does the Christ-honoring, non-materialistic family look like? They invest primarily in the things that will leave this world with them and as a team they are all on this same pursuit. They experience freedom and more time for the things most important because they have limited resources that they own in order not to be owned by them. They experience constant joy because the only source of joy they expect is from the Lord. They do not need to have stuff to impress others because the only person they seek to please is the Lord. They have no compelling love for the shadows of the world because their hearts see the true Substance, the beauty of God’s marvelous light. They have their priorities right: things are to be used and people are to be loved. They are content people following Christ and therefore have a great family because their mutual trust is not in material things which will let us down, but in the One who always delivers.
Sermon, Siblings Separated by Sin, Genesis 27:1-46, September 15, 2013.
Nobody is born into this world a child of the family of God. We are born as children of wrath. The only way we enter into the family of God is by adoption, and that adoption occurs when we are united to God’s only begotten Son by faith. When by faith we are united with Christ, we are then adopted into that family of whom Christ is the firstborn.
The New Birth, Tabletalk, March 2007, p. 7. Used by Permission of Ligonier Ministries.
My kin are those who have been bought by the blood of the Lamb. They are my brothers and my sisters, even if they root for the wrong football team. My calling is to love them like family, for they are family. They, like me, have been born a second time, born into the family of God. We share a common Father, we share a common mother, the church, and we share a common brother, Jesus our Lord.
We have been adopted into God’s family by His Spirit – so that we now possess full rights as members of the divine family, which means that God now looks upon us with the same love and affection He looks upon Jesus.
Wisdom to Live By, Christian Focus Publications, 1998, p. 117. Used by Permission.
You were cleansed by the same blood, regenerated by the same Spirit. You are a citizen of the same city, a slave of the same master, a reader of the same Scriptures, a worshipper of the same God. The same presence dwells silently in you as in them. Therefore you are committed to them and they to you. They are your brothers, sisters, your fathers, mothers and children. Whether you like or dislike them, you belong to them. You have responsibilities toward them that must be discharged in love. As long as you live on this earth, you are in their debt. Whether they have done much or little for you, Christ has done all. He demands that your indebtedness to Him to be transferred to your new family.
