Loving People into the Family of God

I recently heard a great analogy on what belonging to God's family ought to look like.

Imagine one of those "family rules" chalkboard signs or pieces of wall art that many families have hung up in their kitchens, dining rooms, or living rooms. "Say please and thank you," one rule might read, or "Always forgive one another," another rule might say. Now imagine that a child on the playground at school notices another classmate breaking one of his family's rules. "Stop it, Nancy! You're breaking rule number five!" How odd would that be to the other child? "I'm not part of your family, Joe," she might respond, "Keep your rules to yourself!"

Here's the thing: we cannot look at the world and expect the world to live according to God's household rules, i.e., his Word. It would be as silly as a child expecting another child to follow their own family's rules. But what if—instead of enforcing his family's rules—that child said, "Hey, Nancy, you should come over to my house for lunch. My dad is going to grill some burgers today and we're all going to play Uno together!"? How different might the outcome be if little Joe welcomed little Nancy into his family?

Similarly, what impact might you have on someone if you simply invited and welcomed someone into your own home, or your small group gathering, or even your church's weekend worship service? Remember: our responsibility is to love well (Mark 12:28-33); God takes care of changing our hearts. So, on that note, who can you love into God's family this week? Who's your one?

Scripture for Meditation

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Prayer

God, help me to love someone into your family this week. Show me who my "one" is and lead me to put love into action.