"While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.’ But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, ‘Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother’” Matthew 12:46-50.

It has been said that you can choose your friends, but your family is chosen for you. This is not entirely true in that we do have a choice of family, according to Jesus’ words.

The reason that Jesus’ family had come is revealed in Mark’s gospel: “And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21). The frenetic work Jesus was involved with generated skepticism and concern with His household family. Perhaps this situation factored in to Jesus clarifying true family. Family, according to Jesus, is not biologically-based, but rather obedience-based.

Such a radical redefinition of family must have been met with outrage by Jewish contemporaries. It was a commonly-held belief that ancestry afforded special spiritual privileges (i.e, John 8:39). Jesus’ family definition clarified that no one rides anyone's ancestral coattails into the kingdom of God. Entrance requires ongoing personal faith and obedience.

If the family of God is based on ancestry, most of us are naturally excluded. The greatest of all acts of grace is that we can be family members, as Jesus indicates, through doing the will of our Father. That will includes believing in His Son, and gratefully doing that which pleases our Father.

May we rejoice in our inclusion in the true family, and join in celebrate with our family members as often as we are able.

Be sure to also visit http://thetruthrevolution.wordpress.com/ & https://kingdomdreamer.blogspot.com/

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