1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (HCSB)
For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body – so also is Christ.
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
So the body is not one part but many.
The reality is God chose who we were designed to love & God knew who would become members of our families. Human sin, and our fleshly desires, can affect this reality, but ultimately–God already knew all the fine details. God does not make mistakes.
God is all-knowing.
1 John 3:18-20 (HCSB)
Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.
This is how we will know we belong to the truth and will convince our conscience in His presence, even if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience, and He knows all things.
Before we speak, God already knows the language & the words we will use. Let us remember to speak gently to our difficult family members.
Those with great tempers and big egos.
Psalm 139:4 (ESV)
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Yet, what do we do with those members of our family that we did not choose. The ones born out of wedlock. The ones that have chosen not to be with us. Who have even said they don’t love us.
Our in-laws.
What do we do with Ishmael? Doesn’t the Bible say Ishmael was to be cast out?
Psalm 147:4 (NIV)
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
Galatians 4:22-23 (ESV)
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Galatians 4:28-31 (ESV)
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
But just as at that time he was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
But what does the Scripture say?
‘Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.’
So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Yet, this is not the entire story of Isaac (child of the promise) & Ishmael (born according to the flesh).
For we see Ishmael, despite being cast out from Abraham’s physical dwelling, receive a promise & blessing from God of great stature & value:
Genesis 17:18-21 (HCSB)
So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in Your presence!”
But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
But I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
In the above verses, we have a literal & physical conversation between God & Abraham.
This means that GOD ACTUALLY SPOKE to Abraham about Ishmael, Isaac, and Abraham’s wife Sarah.
This was NOT a discernment in prayer or a discernment of the Spirit alone.
IT WAS AN ACTUAL PHYSICAL CONVERSATION WITH GOD!
!DO NOT ABANDON YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS!
God has plans for all the members of our family.
This includes the members of our family that we may have had in a season of disobedience to God. Those with mental illness, those with physical handicaps, those with narcissistic traits, those born out of wedlock, those born to women & men we now despise.
Romans 11:16-18 (NLT)
And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy–just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy.
For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.
But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree–some of the people of Israel–have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in.
So now you also receive the blessing God promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.
But you must not brag about being grafted int to replace the branches that were broken off.
You are just a branch, not the root.
God grafted the Gentiles (Christians who are NOT Jewish in blood) into His promise to Abraham. This was not for Christians to brag, there is still a difference between the branch (us) and root (Abraham’s family lineage).
But I use this to reflect on my family. My very broken, fragmented family. Where I am also a broken, fragmented member of a bigger body.
Both to my literal, physical family & the family of God that God has allowed me to be adopted into. The family that I just MARRIED into. The family I now have with my wife, Yuni. Who I both love & cherish deeply.
For it is LOVE, that restores. It is LOVE that conquerors all. LOVE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL.
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