“For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”  

Mark‬ ‭3:35‬ ‭NET‬‬ http://bible.com/107/mrk.3.35.net

Good morning. Thanks for taking the time to think with me🤔 about this verse, found in Mark 3:35 (also in Matthew chapter 12).

Here are some of my observations that I invite you to think about today.  

1. How do you know if you are a part of Jesus' family?  Jesus answers this by saying "whoever does the will of my Father..."  That seems really straight forward but have you ever thought about what is the Father's will?

This is a really important question to figure out...What is God's will?  To answer our question we should look in the Bible. (Duh...but how often do we neglect God's Word and replace it with "well, I think" or "this devotion said."  If not yet, let's get into the habit of going to the Bible first and then other resources.). One place to study would be where Jesus was asked about the greatest  commandment. Another would be to study the 10 Commandments. I think that these two sections of Scripture can shed light on what is God's will.  

Here's what you might discover...God's will is for us to worship/love God with every aspect of our lives AND to love others as we would like to be loved. 

So, based on that definition, I would conclude: when I love God with every single aspect of my life and when I am intentional about loving others I will be doing the will of God = I am in God's family!! 

2. You can be Jesus' brother, sister, or mother. But you don't get to be his Daddy!  I love this. Jesus explains the open positions in his family... "whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother ."  Jesus never gives the opportunity for anyone to be his Father.  You and I are not Jesus' father. I bring this up to say, "Quit telling Jesus what to do."  I know what you're thinking (some of you anyway), "I don't tell Jesus what to do!"  Sure you do, every time you pray.  Too often prayer is us telling Jesus what we want him to do. Rarely is prayer a time of thankfulness AND asking God (our Father) what He wants us to do.  

How might you pray different today?  Maybe like this...

WOW! - brag on God.  

NOW... - tell God the good, bad, & ugly. 

HOW? - stop talking. Open your Bible and discover what Gid says about you and your life.  

OBEY - do what what your Father says.  

May each of us set our focus on proving our place in the family of God. And, may each of us realize that it is only by God's grace that we can be considered the family of God.   

Blessings on you today, 

Pastor Matt