We are God’s Family
by Teri Anderson
Today’s Treasure
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
John 17:9-11.
I married my rural Arizona high school senior sweetheart. He was a football stud, while I was the nerdy student council officer. Back in the day, he and I chose very different types of friends. Once married, we merged our friendship styles and began a private joke as we moved around to various cities and churches. When we’d settled in with a new congregation, eventually one would say, shaking our head, “We would have NEVER been friends with these people in high school!”
Christ had drawn us to himself in college during the Jesus movement when our generation was critical of “the institutional church.” But as we studied God’s Word, we learned that man did not invent the church; God did. So we prayerfully found a local church. Each time we moved and became part of a new church, we realized that “these people” were the ones HE had given us. Making friends in neighborhoods, work environments, or even in churches can be driven by pragmatic reasons such as encouragement, support, common interests, or approval. But an even deeper truth about gospel friendships appears in John 17, where Jesus prays passionately for His people. We see not only who places us together, but why. Jesus explicitly articulates some purposes for these relationships united in Christ.
When God calls us, He justifies us by giving gifts of repentance and faith, He credits Christ’s righteousness to our account, restoring a vertical relationship with Himself. But God also ADOPTS us into His family, creating horizontal relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. He both gives new life AND unites us with His other children. (Gal 4:5, Eph 1:5) God does not save us to be isolated hermits, but to be “one with each other.” We see here that we glorify God by being in union with Him and with each other, “that they may be one, even as we are one,” reflecting the love within the Triune God. Being in union with each other is also meant for “keeping” us, as Jesus prays. In Philippians 2:3-5, we learn that we should count others as more significant than ourselves and look out for their interests as much as our own. My faith is NOT just “me & Jesus”. By God’s work, we are now KINGDOM FOCUSED, not self-focused. Being united to “these people” is intended to help “keep us.”
LIFE GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Meditating on John 17 allows us to honestly evaluate our current connection to His visible Church. If we are plugged in, rejoice! “These people,” our Gospel friends, are designed to thrive in the community of Christ’s Church. Perhaps the recent season of staying at home, of not being able to worship physically beside our church family has heightened our awareness that we truly are designed for community within God’s church.
On the other hand, have we drifted away from a church we were once vitally a part of? Or are we present, but not really engaged? Why not? Do we need to repent, to forgive past hurts, or to just return to “these people” God has made ours? Perhaps as we’ve socially distanced, we’ve scrolled by Facebook Live sermons or congregations worshipping together apart, making our hearts hunger for His community. Could one silver lining of our time apart be the God-given conviction that we are indeed meant to be “one with each other” when possible, glorifying God together, helping keep each other?
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for calling me to Yourself and adopting me into your family, your people. Soften me to be more Kingdom-focused. Show me how to glorify you in the ways that you’ve uniquely fit me into your family, Christ’s Church.
You chose me in Him before the world’s foundation,
You wrote my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life;
You set me apart for adoption in Jesus—
For Your good pleasure, You gave me to Christ.
Teri Anderson - Teri and her husband, Mark, are members of Spring Meadows PCA in Las Vegas, NV. They have two adult “kids,” a son-in-law, & enjoy their 4 year old granddaughter as often as possible! Teri taught high school English, Computer Technology, and Gifted Education before beginning her motherhood role & a resulting home-based Mary Kay Cosmetics business, becoming a “mompreneur“ before it was trendy! Currently, as an Independent Sales Director, she provides training and mentoring for women of all ages across the USA. In the volunteer world, she served several terms as a Women’s Advisor to the Board of Covenant College, and as an Alpha Omicron Pi VP and International Board member. Locally, Teri has served on the Women’s Ministry Team and taught Sunday School and Bible Study. She has served as a PCA Women’s Ministry Trainer and retreat speaker since 2001.
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Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.